Social Equity of Public Participation Environments

To address the lack of research on institutional barriers to public participation, the paper examines participation environments by studying neighborhood commissions. Using the Strategic Action Field Framework for Implementation Research, the authors illustrate how city-level policies interact with commissions and organizational-level driving forces to create experiences for citizens. Data were analyzed using structural and elaborative coding and suggest there is value in using the cultural frames of strict father and nurturing parent as an interpretive tool. The strict father frame shapes the environment via norms, policies, and practices, and communicates preferences for citizen identities. Time pressures reinforce this frame. To realize environments that advance social equity, findings reveal that three conditions must be present: a) nurturing parent norms, practices, and policies that are coupled with a consensus on the purpose of participation, b) mutual understanding of past racist policies, and c) trust between actors. Seven propositions are offered for further study.