Writing Feedback / The role of Citizen Participation in community planning - thesis statment lenght [5]

This paper argues that although the role of Citizen Participation in community planning has generally evolved over time, the degree those changes have occurred is not significant; however, what has changed significantly is that empirical research in regards to this topic has been gaining ground, and professionals are starting to create not only theoretical, but better and more practical approaches towards Citizen Participation programs, such as Desmond M. Conner's "New Ladder" of participation, which is a huge improvement over Sherry Arnstein's "Ladder"; moreover, the authors James L. Creighton and Lance Decker have also come up with innovative ways to structure and implement successful participatory programs that overcome barriers, and of the many, three key theories that underly Citizen Participation in planning are cohesiveness, responsiveness and early involvement.