The Effectiveness of Community Participation Processes in Aotearoa New Zealand

In the island nation of Aotearoa New Zealand, the reality of cultural diversity brought about by the history of migration and increased globalisation places more diverse demands on social and cultural frameworks. These diverse demands in relation to different cultures represent a range of community interests and needs, which participatory planning processes can respond to and draw out for representation in public open space planning and design. It is the community participation that is trying to create a higher sense of community for a wider range of population and ethnicity. Society should not only accept and maintain this cultural difference, it is also necessary to effectively incorporate these different perspectives from multiple ethnic groups into the community participation process. This research aims to discover preferences for different participatory planning processes in relation to ethnicity, and to identify which are the most effective planning process for New Zealand European, Māori, Chinese and Pasifika community members. These aims are addressed by examining people’s experiences of participatory planning processes and their outcomes through a sequence of focus groups. Community participation is discussed with participants from each of the four ethnic groups independently to understand how to effectively encourage sense of community in Aotearoa New Zealand. The discussions link the reasons given by participants for preferred participation methods to their cultural backgrounds. Finally, the similarities and differences of the preferences of the different ethnic groups are analysed and discussed.