Participatory inclusive mechanisms to set the civic improvement agenda in Palmerston North, New zealand
This paper describes one of the earliest experiences of the New Zealand City Councils in using participatory approaches to gain active inclusion of community members and their views into decision making processes within Councils. The Palmerstone North City Council set out to gather Palmerstone North City residents' views on what they value about the physical and natural characteristics of the city. This was done in two residential suburbs; Hokowhitu and Takaro/Highbury, geographically opposite, being at either end of the city, and also very different in socio-economic circumstances.