Date:
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 - 18:30 to 20:00
Event:
Presenter:
Nigel Martin, School of Accounting and Business Information Systems ANU College of Business and Economics
Venue:
Engineering House, Canberra
Event Details:
Abstract:Public participation in Sustainable Development Planning (SDP) of large modern cities represents significant challenges to governments, public agencies and those responsible for developing infrastructure. In the case of Canberra, Australia’s national capital, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government took an innovative approach to citizen participation and involvement. The government used a series of electronic discussion papers and questions to enable online forum discussions and the exchange of ideas between citizens on the major issues related to the sustainable development of Canberra out to 2030. In this study, we used a rigorous and structured QSR NVIVO analysis of 690 online forum postings to determine the public’s major concerns for the future sustainable development of Canberra over the next 20 years. The collective results of the investigation show that citizens and experts consider the future development of integrated transport networks, higher density township and central business district properties, and sustainable population strategies as important planks in the national capital’s forward SDP. The research clearly demonstrates the capacity of online communications channels to serve as important and dynamic mechanisms for planning participation and consultation.