Making Meaning Together – New Approaches to Governance and Community in Modern DemocraciesPollard L1*1. Murdoch University, Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaThe aim of this paper is to show that establishing meaningful expressions of community experiences and aspirations through community engagement can and should effectively contribute to the “framing” of government policy activity. The term “community engagement” must include an understanding of people’s subjective experience of their surroundings and their awareness of the long-term impact and potentialities in their lives. A comprehensive approach to community engagement will have long-term benefits for government and industry such as ensuring that developments are welcomed, sustainable and able to utilise community potentialities. The paper will take an interdisciplinary approach to examine the work of a range of authors on civic engagement, community, identity, democracy, public policy and philosophical hermeneutics to show that governments in modern democracies must also take account of, and provide a voice for, different groups that coexist in urban, rural and regional environments. It will demonstrate that effective community engagement can be a vehicle for policymakers to become more aware of the problem-setting nature of the frames in which they operate. Community engagement can be used as a form of value critical policy inquiry whereby the diverse views of affected people can be incorporated in the meanings and interpretations of government decision-makers. While both community participation and their emancipation from elitist power structures are becoming widely accepted within community engagement theory, current dominant frames often lead practice back to reductionist solutions. People’s participation in accordance with their shared meanings will contribute long term benefits to developers, governments and communities if greater wisdom about the process of meaning formation and expression is added to our practitioners’ technical resources. |
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