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Doing Democracy Up-Close: Culture, Power, and Communication in Community Building

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University;xavierbriggs{at}hud.gov

This article considers how democracy gets done, and undone, at the micro-level of the planning meeting. I use concepts of social performance to frame issues of culture and power that have received limited attention in earlier planning research. Drawing on three brief ethnographic accounts of a public interaction or "speech occasion," I extend Forester's call for planners and policy professionals to understand and respond to the diverse communication styles and subtle power relations that shape public life. Informed responses are critical if planners aim to learn and get results while meaningfully involving various "publics" or stakeholders in decisions. Without such competence, many efforts to deliberate to "do" democracy in a diverse society will struggle along at needlessly high levels of confusion, distrust, and even resentment.

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