Challenges for Civic Participation and Local Democratic Processes in Urban Development German Experiences

The focus of this article is about challenges and experiences with dialogue oriented \ncivic participation in urban development processes in Germany. The article builds on the \nimplementation and evaluation of several participatory processes, which were realised in \neleven German cities since 2012. In Germany, civic participation has become an integral \npart of planning practice in most communal authorities in the past decades and especially \nin the last fifteen years. Many methods for participatory planning processes have been \ndeveloped and municipal authorities set up their own guidelines for good participation. \nUnfortunately, within the context of post-democratic trends, public participation in local \npolitics has received the same criticism from political scientists, as has the representative \ndemocracy. In many cases, instead of being an effective instrument for feedback between \nstate and citizens, it reproduces social injustice. The article analyses the challenges for \ncivic participation regarding its democratic legitimization and implementation practice \nwithin urban planning processes between top-down oriented governmental actions and \nlocal bottom-up contexts. It ends with a proposal of how civic participation could be \nimproved and societal inclusion strengthened in local democratic processes, and to \nincrease the effectivity and acceptance of public planning.