A Fresh Look at Community Engagement and Regeneration: Toward Good Practice and Innovative Policy in Northern Ireland

Dr Saul M. Golden and Mr Lindesay Dawe (Ulster) –

The Fresh Start Agreement set out three key aims for public consultation and engagement: To enhance decision-making; to improve the acceptability of decisions reached; to build capacity internally and externally for improved relationships and stakeholder input to political processes. These aims remain relevant to current policy debates as a framework to foster more effective public/stakeholder engagement on larger regeneration initiatives.  This evidence-based presentation will examine current policies along with proposed exemplar strategies for good practice and innovative on-the-ground approaches to community engagement for urban renewal. It presents data gathered from a 2016 symposium carried out by Belfast School of Architecture and Urban Research Lab, along with anonymous survey feedback from public-private stakeholder events held in Belfast between 2012-2017. The symposium brought academics together with statutory and third sector representatives to appraise tools and processes that inform development policy for all stakeholders concerned with urban and rural regeneration across Northern Ireland. The research provides an insight into deliberations on policy and skills capacity to addresses consultation fatigue through good decision-making practice and more effective policy implementation. Outcomes include an appraisal of models and tools that can inform policy to better articulate community need for regeneration projects, and to better integrate government and other agencies in community engagement and planning processes.

This seminar took place on 31 January 2018

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Policy Briefing
Presentation