Participatory governance in planning processes: How do public administrations learn?
The necessity of strong public participation in planning processes of public authorities has been generally recognized in recent years. It is an area in which public authorities are still undergoing a learning process, since best practice knowledge on shaping and implementing participatory processes is scarce. A study led by the Lueneburg political scientist Professor Jens Newig showed how these learning processes take place at the level of German federal states. The results demonstrate that, in most cases, public administrators resort to past experiences in their own federal state. The adoption of best practice from other federal states or the conducting of experiments are rare. It is here, however, that researchers see great potential. The findings of the study have been published in the journal Environmental Science & Policy.