%T Citizen Participation in Environmental Planning Processes
%A E.I. Bolt
%L theses_frw3515
%X In the Netherlands, the rise of the ‘participation society’ has put increasing emphasis on involving 
citizens in planning, designing, decision-making and governance. Public participation is 
institutionalized in all spatial planning processes. However, a gap can be noticed between the desired 
and the actual level of public participation. Aiming to close this gap is essential in order to provide 
benefits in the form of more efficient interaction and better accepted projects. With the help of a case 
study on the EemsDollard2050 projects, this research aims to assess the why, who, when, and how of 
citizen participation in a planning process, to find out how the perception of stakeholders about citizen 
participation in environmental planning processes aligns with how participation is secured in policy 
documents. For this, Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation is used to assess the level of participation
and to discern the difference between the actual and the desired level of participation. A literature 
review found that participation is just institutionalized in the form of an involvement regulation, and 
a right to challenge. This still gives policy makers a lot of freedom in the design of participation. 
Regarding the perceived participation of stakeholders, the data gathered from interviews and a survey
suggest that participation levels are dependent on the phase of the planning process, and on how the 
residents are affected by the change. A shift towards higher levels of participation in earlier stages can 
be observed not only in policy, but also in society, as environmental planning is argued to increasingly 
need the input of residents.
%D 2021