Stakeholder participation in environmental management is increasing. Staff of environmental agencies, however, often lack training in communication and in conducting participatory processes. Their interpretation of “participation” is of interest because interpretation affects how participation is practiced. We explored how participation was interpreted within the Soil Conservation Service of Ic...

In this paper we explore the similarities and differences of participatory design and action research in a crossdisciplinary fashion. We briefly outline two distinct studies: (1) a design study that examines mobile interactions of backpackers, and (2) an urban sociology study to better understand social networks of apartment residents. The first study follows a participatory design approach. Th...

This paper gives an overview of the theory of participatory ergonomics interventions and summary examples from a range of industries, including health care, military, manufacturing, production and processing, services, construction and transport. The definition of participatory approaches includes interventions at macro (organizational, systems) levels as well as micro (individual), where worke...

The Curating Community Workshop developed out of an interest in urban regeneration, cultural policy and participatory art. It drew on the extensive experience in developing, delivering and evaluating community interventions that span participatory arts. The Workshop brought together artists, commissioners, researchers, educationalists and practitioners from community development and from a rang...

introduction food security over the past decade was one of the main objectives of rural development policies in many countries. agricultural policies such as productive improvement, conservation and utilization of water and land resources are being considered in the heart of development projects. among these initiatives to achieve improved quality of infrastructure, environment and welfare is t...

This paper presents an overview of four recent participatory resource management projects carried out on three continents. The aim is to elicit from these case studies a description of participatory process structures as well as an analysis of the driving forces behind the selection of stakeholders and their involvement in management projects. The case studies represent four different process s...

The past two decades have witnessed a rapid proliferation of community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects. CBPR methodology presents an alternative to traditional population-based biomedical research practices by encouraging active and equal partnerships between community members and academic investigators. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the premier b...

This article critically reviews the role of participatory theory in managing development projects and programmes in poor countries. Participation has emerged in response to global demands for greater individual and social control over the activities of state and private agencies, and especially to the manifest failures of traditional ‘top-down’ management systems in LDCs. Claims made on behalf ...