Promoting Participatory Urban Design: Experiences from Practice to Teaching

Abstract

Today there is broad consensus on the importance of introducing citizen participation to the different scales of urban design. The National Urban Development Policy, enacted recently in Chile, refers explicitly to this issue in corporate and governance cross-cutting areas. The great challenge today, however, is to establish a participatory culture among the stakeholders who intervene in the urban process. As academicians and researchers, our goal is to instill in the practice of our students this notion of shared responsibility in the design and construction of the city. At the same time, we would like to contribute to the reflection, research and practice of promoting awareness among citizens about the right to take part in the decisions about the city where we live. The University must play a role in terms of suggesting debates on emergent topics and providing venues for dialogue and experience sharing.