Learning and Design Forum
Neighorhood Participation Project
Developed originally for the City of Los Angeles, these fora are means to a collaborative space in which municipal agencies could discover shared interests with neighbourhood councils. The concrete expression of this collaborative deliberation is a signed agreement between a city department and neighbourhood councils in specific areas of the city. The agreements include the processes and guidelines for more collaborative delivery of services. They are worked out in a series of three half-day sessions, constituting the actual forum, held three weeks apart, led by a professional facilitator with homework between sessions. The first forum establishes current practices and a rationale for service delivery collaboration. The homework before the second session focuses on identifying shared interests. In the second session break-out groups focus on common ideas and components: problem identification, solution strategies and service planning. In the third session, each group puts forward concrete plans for collaboration that could serve as the basis for their co-production of service.
Kathi, Pradeep Chandra, "Democratizing the administrative state: Connecting neighborhood councils and city agencies," Public Administration Review, 65(5) September-October 2005, 559-567
The authors argue that the overaraching administrative ethos of the administrative state creates barriers to citizen participation in governance. In contrast, they present a model of citizen participation thata barings neighborhood councils and city agencies together in a collaborative partnership. They call this model the "learning and design forum."
IPAC Events
