Deliberative Planning Practices—Without Smothering Invention

Abstract

Organizers of democratic deliberations—along with interested and contentious participants—can resist the smothering of invention that decision-centric views of deliberation too easily produce. Why debate choices from a mediocre menu when the accessible restaurant next door offers far better options at similar prices? Building upon a practice-focused oral history method and considering urban cases in Canada, Holland, and Italy, this analysis examines public deliberations over local environmental policy, community development, and urban design. We see how a practical aesthetics of deliberative invitations can shape less defensive, more creative deliberations that integrate invention and option generation with subsequent practices of argumentation and negotiation.