engleski

Between globalised policy and genuine public involvement

The paper provides an insight to the underlying reasons of and needs for the contribution derived from public involvement within landscape planning. As an evaluative activity, landscape planning is determined or framed by two different (in sense of the amount) uniformity polls - the policy within it acts and the people for whom it acts. The proposition is made to acknowledge involvement of two different value systems within landscape planning. The paper addresses the fact that we are living in era when the role of public is eulogised as the mean to achieve "better" environmental policy. Such a policy - public interface seams to be specially promoted amongst governmental and political circles, while at the same time the same environmental policy is, due to the globalisation norms, standards and mechanisms already determined to some extent without significant public contribution. That "prescribed" policy could be traced and appears in the sequence: global - national - regional - local. On the other side there is an evidence of discontent within critical professionals that public participation currently does not contribute to the decrease of professional disputes and organised interests. As a consequence and an irrefutable proof of defective policy development, syndromes such as NIMBY (not in my backyard) and its subtype LULU (locally unwanted land use) occur. Using evidence from literature and from several statutory documents in Croatia it is argued that while public involvement in the procedural aspects of decision-making is important, an imperative concern should be given to the product of such involvement. Hence, the planning departure point toward the goal being either nature protection and/or environmental conservation should be based on the information that originates from public involvement. It is suggested that the diversity poll (being that social attitudes attached to physical environment) should be considered as the input information to the planning procedure particularly at local level, if the planning aim is to sustain from uniformity poll (globalisation processes). That issue is perceived as underpractised and undertheorised and stimulates further research

landscape; participatory mechanisms; decisions; protection

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