Benchmarking Case Studies on Public Participation in Spatial Planning Processes In Four Countries: Australia, Chile, South Africa And The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland: Urban Governance Case Studies, Volume 2

UN-Habitat provides technical assistance and advisory services to member states in legal reform processes to bring about social and economic transformation and enhance effective service delivery for sustainable urban development. Benchmarking case studies and comparative analysis are key aspects of the UN-Habitat methodology for legal and governance reform.

This report showcases benchmarking case studies on public participation in four countries prepared for the project “Strengthening the Urban Planning Legal and Institutional Frameworks in the Sultanate of Oman”. It includes a comparative analysis of best practices for meaningful public participation in spatial planning to make urban development more inclusive, equitable, sustainable, active and meaningful.

The selection of the country case studies is based on the principles of effective public participation derived from the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, which contain both quantitative and qualitative selection criteria. These criteria aim to ensure that the study contains relevant and innovative practices on public participation and that the selected countries are comparable to Oman with respect to their social, economic and political contexts. In sum, these case studies provide a spectrum of regulatory and governance models on public participation for the country’s legal and institutional reform agenda.