Engagement Mechanisms in Workshops for Sustainable Community Development

Abstract

Sustainable development for cities and communities presents challenges planning for economic and environmental resiliency. Workshops can bring stakeholders' local knowledge in combination with planning experts' professional knowledge. This paper proposes a system model for workshops operating as transdisciplinary problem-solving systems of functions, processes, and roles. The identified mechanisms link to three steps: first, stakeholders define the relevant problems; second, stakeholders and planning experts contribute to exploring a range of possible decisions. Finally, decision methods illuminate and prioritize options for selecting concepts of desired solutions. An approach to examine and test the workshop system model for a site-specific example focuses on land-use at transit stations. The research aims to improve human capacity to address the growing complexity in cities increasing social equity with economic and environmental resilience.