Public Participation in Natural Hazard Mitigation Policy Formation: Challenges for Comprehensive Planning Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Democratic theory holds that active participation in governmental planning and decision making is critical to furthering the public interest. As a result, public participation in urban planning in the US is arguably the most extensive and intensive in the world. Required by federal, state and local laws, citizen involvement is a staple of local plan making. However, as this paper shows, citizen interest in participating in the formulation of hazard mitigation policies in comprehensive plans is low, despite mounting evidence of perils to life and properly from floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. Using evidence from case studies in Florida and Washington, the causes of disinterest are dissected and ways to increase public input to hazard mitigation policies in local comprehensive plans are recommended.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • GODSCHALK, D. R., BRODY, S., & BURBY, R.

citation count

  • 144

complete list of authors

  • GODSCHALK, DAVID R||BRODY, SAMUEL||BURBY, RAYMOND

publication date

  • September 2003