Citizen Participation in Urban Forests: Analysis of a Consultation Process in the Metropolitan Area of Rouen Normandy

Charlotte Birks, Damien Féménias and Charly Machemehl
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Charlotte Birks: Institute of Transformation of Physical and Sports Activities (CETAPS), University of Rouen Normandy, France
Damien Féménias: Institute of Transformation of Physical and Sports Activities (CETAPS), University of Rouen Normandy, France
Charly Machemehl: Institute of Transformation of Physical and Sports Activities (CETAPS), University of Rouen Normandy, France

Urban Planning, 2022, vol. 7, issue 2, 174-185

Abstract: The article examines the results of a “citizen consultation” organised by local public officials through a questionnaire-based consultation approach to the management of urban and peri-urban forests. The study shows how forests are at the same time strong, complex, and ambivalent policy levers in a public consultation process. The article, first of all, specifies the economic context of the case study, namely that of a metropolis in the north of France with a population of 500,000 people. It then presents the methods and the occasionally divergent results of the metropolitan “dialogue” survey (dated 2020, n = 375) on the one hand, and a university survey (dated 2020, n = 774) on the other. The results obtained reveal the challenges, difficulties, and limits of a participatory approach, given the high degree of ambivalence and contrast in the way population groups relate to woodland and the representative/participatory systems. The article highlights the complexity involved in the management of woodlands and their use as part of a political process that is both participatory and sustainable.

Keywords: citizen consultation; city; environment; Normandy; public participation; Rouen; urban forest; woodland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:urbpla:v7:y:2022:i:2:p:174-185

DOI: 10.17645/up.v7i2.4997

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