Citizen Participation in Urban Scale Projects The case of the Isla Cautín Urban Park, Temuco Chile

Abstract

In the last decades, citizen expressions to obtain a higher level of participation have been in permanent tension. Although efforts have been made since the return to democracy in the 1990s to involve citizens in decision making, the mechanisms for citizen participation have not been the most adequate or have been insufficient, weakening democracy and causing citizens to distance themselves from public institutions.  From this context, this article seeks to highlight the participatory process carried out during the elaboration of the Cautín Island Park design project developed in 2015 and 2016 in the commune of Temuco, La Araucanía region, whose participatory methodology incorporated the demands of various social groups and organizations identified in the map of actors, highlighting the early incorporation of citizens in the elaboration of the design, in addition to a binding participation throughout the decision-making process of the project. The results currently show that when appropriate spaces and channels for working with the community are generated, it is possible to guarantee effective, open and inclusive citizen participation, strengthening the use and appropriation of public spaces and consolidating participatory democracy.