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This chapter examines how democratic innovations can strengthen participation in the social housing sector. In Denmark, social housing offers affordable housing to a large number of Danes. The sector is grounded in traditions for resident involvement and engagement, and the democratic model in the sector is unique to Denmark. The residents have the majority say in all decision-making boards, which enables them to influence both the physical surroundings and social initiatives. Despite the positive merits, the sector faces challenges concerning increased segregation, municipalities allocating an increased share of socially and economically marginalised people to the sector, and less participation in the residential democracy. This chapter studies two cases of initiatives that experiment with democratic innovations to enhance participation in local housing associations. The two cases are innovative initiatives in the social housing sector and illustrate the potential benefits of increased participation. The chapter concludes that project-based initiatives might be on the rise and seem to hold considerable potential for enhancing participation. The challenge, then, is still to secure the coordination and strategic direction of the initiatives while combining them with the formal resident democracy.

It has been widely recognised that the participation of residents is a significant issue in contemporary urban heritage conservation. However, studies confirm that the reasons behind residents' engagement are still difficult to assess, particularly in emerging countries. This paper aims to evaluate the factors that incite or prevent residents from participating in built heritage rehabilitation in the old city of Constantine, by applying the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) model.

A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect information from the residents. The collected data were then analysed using the structural equation model (SEM).

The findings show that the most significant factors affecting residents' participation were related to their motivations and abilities. Interestingly, factors related to the opportunities did not influence participation. Thus, autonomous rehabilitation according to the residents' motivation and abilities is more likely to be adopted.

These findings are limited to the selected sample, and some variables have been eliminated through the SEM analysis.

However, as a first attempt to study residents' participation in built heritage rehabilitation in Constantine, the paper proposes a different perspective for assessing participation by considering its means and ends simultaneously. The paper also provides guidance to local decision-makers to improve the legal framework by implementing factors that encourage residents' involvement in sustainable heritage management.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of local residents’ participation in decision making regarding the conservation of the built heritage on conservation attitudes.

This study borrows ideas from Arnstein’s Model of Citizen Participation and from past research to develop a model, and then testing it using a questionnaire survey with a sample of 209 local residents in Kilwa Kisiwani World Heritage Site in Tanzania.

The mean statistics showed that participation in decision making in Kilwa Kisiwani is relatively limited to the level of tokenism. Nevertheless, on the side of attitudes, the study indicates residents’ tendency to favour conservation. Regression results indicate that there is a significantly positive relationship between participation in decision making and attitude towards conservation.

Although the study did not cover the dynamics inherent in each bloc of resident community that may act as roadblocks in the participation process, it regards “participation in decision making” as a useful tool for heritage managers and conservation authorities for promoting local support for the conservation of heritage resources. Theoretically, the study implies that Arnstein’s Model can be a useful framework for ascertaining residents’ participation in the heritage management context, and for explaining its effect on conservation attitudes.

This study is the first rigorous confirmation of the relationship between participation in decision making and individual’s attitude towards conservation. The study provides a useful conceptual tool for heritage managers in promoting local support for conservation.

Listening to the customers has long been a key phrase and success element in product branding. This paper aims to highlight the importance of listening to residents during the branding of a place. The study explores ways of listening to residents to ensure they are heard and also discusses the challenges and benefits related to place branding flowing from having residents participate in decision-making processes.

Listening to residents and offering opportunities to participate requires place branders to fully attend to, comprehend and respond to residents’ comments, requests, ideas and feedback. This study reports on how two Nordic cities – Turku and Helsinki – listen to their residents. The data used comprise face-to-face interviews, telephone and e-mail conversations and documentary material.

Residents should not be considered as one homogeneous target; participation options and channels should be adapted to the demographics and geographic issues of the different regions and resident groups.

The role of residents and the importance of listening are crucial features in the emerging concept of inclusive place branding (Kavaratzis et al., 2017); its future conceptual development could benefit from the case examples at hand.

City authorities should listen to residents and provide them with opportunities to actively contribute to decision-making. Other cities could learn from the examples introduced in the paper.

This paper documents two Nordic examples of cities putting into practice a policy of listening to the residents, a previously neglected research area.

The concepts of well‐being and participation are prevalent in current regeneration policy, being seen as crucial to alleviating disadvantage and marginalisation in deprived communities. However little is understood about how such ambiguous concepts are articulated within urban regeneration practice. This paper seeks to present a reflective case study of research in a New Deal for Communities (NDC) area designed to understand different conceptualisations of well‐being and participation in community places and regeneration practices.

The perspectives of regeneration professionals, local residents and academics were revealed through the development of a multi‐method and participatory research approach using interviews, observations, video diaries and workshops. An action oriented event aimed at developing overlapping communities of practice was held to engage in active dialogue and develop shared understandings between the resident, professional and academic communities.

Conceptualisations of well‐being and participation articulated through regeneration policy and practice between the different stakeholder groups are contradictory. The absence of a shared vision for regeneration and differing expectations of participation can have detrimental effects on both the well‐being of local residents and the sustainability of the long‐term participation of local residents in the regeneration process. This challenges the recent government approach to creating a Big Society which is underpinned by devolved decision making and the desire for local leadership through realising the potential of communities.

The research has helped to create new relationships between residents and professionals organised around joint working and changed practice.

More research is needed to consider residents’ perceptions prior to hosting large-scale events. This paper contributes new insight on residents’ perceptions of placemaking analysed by considering awareness, enthusiasm and participation prior to hosting a large-scale event. Placemaking is becoming increasingly important and this insight can help planners understand how locals perceive change and event planning preparations.

454 residents of Rijeka, Croatia completed a survey (seven-point Likert scale) of 17 placemaking principles, asked in three ways: (1) how you feel; (2) how you believe people near you feel and (3) if you feel that planning/preparing for ECoC 2020 has made a difference. The data analysis considers socio-demographics and the significance of awareness, enthusiasm and participation as factors affecting residents’ perceptions of placemaking.

The study found respondents originally from Rijeka expressed statistically significant higher level of agreement. Where statistically significant differences exist, female respondents expressed statistically significant higher levels of agreement. For six statements, the distribution of results was not similar for all age groups. Awareness and enthusiasm seems to influence placemaking principles to a greater extent than participation in this study, but all have proven to have statistically significant positive impacts on the placemaking principles assessed.

Planners need to focus on effective promotional activities aimed at awareness and enhance enthusiasm to help increase perceptions of placemaking and increase local quality of life.

explores perceptions of “self” and “how others feel” by assessing principles of placemaking associated with the case of Rijeka. This allows researchers to explore understandings of how people perceive the attitudes of their fellow residents.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing citizens' willingness to participate in the development of smart cities.

Citizens drawn from 30 second-tier cities in China were chosen as the research object for this empirical research. Based on citizenship behavior theory, research hypotheses were tested and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).

The results indicated that information publicity has a direct and positive effect on residents' participation behavior. Perceived benefits, personal responsibility and subjective norms are positively associated with residents' citizenship. Additionally, citizenship was found to affect residents' participation intention positively. Finally, the moderating effect of information credibility in this context was also verified.

As one of the first empirical studies on this topic, this paper offers important guidance for future research regarding residents' participation in the development of smart cities. On this basis, the implications of this research with respect to policies that aim to encourage residents to participate in the construction of smart cities are discussed.

Proper management and maintenance of building stock are vital to sustainable development of a city for a number of reasons, for example, the close relationship between building performance and residents' health. However, effective housing management requires active participation of the residents, particularly the homeowners. Yet, homeowners' participation in housing management in Hong Kong is claimed to remain at a low level because of its voluntary nature. This paper aims to empirically explore the determinants of participation behaviour of homeowners in private housing management in the city based on survey findings.

Founded on the literature reviewed, an analytic model for explaining homeowners' participation behaviour in housing management is developed. The model is then tested by means of logit regression with the data collected from a structured questionnaire survey conducted in summer 2009. A total of 346 respondents from 53 private multi‐storey residential buildings in the western district were surveyed.

In general, older, better educated and less wealthy homeowners are active participants in building management matters, keeping other things constant. Sense of community is also found to be a significant determinant. Besides, homeowners' approach towards building care is predominantly reactive since they engage in housing management because of their dissatisfaction with building quality. The findings of the research will provide valuable insights to public administrators for formulating better policies on private housing management.

The analysis results pose a positive view towards the effects of the communitarian approach to avoid free‐riding problems in housing management. In order to heighten the participation rate of homeowners in private housing management, local authorities or other public bodies can try to boost homeowners' sense of community within their residential communities.

This study is the first attempt to empirically investigate the determinants of homeowners' participation in the management of high‐rise residential buildings in Hong Kong.

This paper aims to investigate the gap between the declarations regarding participatory planning and its actual implementation in practice within the Israeli spatial planning context.

The paper explores the gap between theory of participatory spatial planning and its implementation in practice by a comparative analysis of three participatory case studies in the Israeli planning context. The data collected to analyze the case studies is secondary data, including previous research on the three case studies and their re-evaluation on the basis of indicators for participation.

Participatory spatial planning processes are not often implemented in the Israeli context, as they are not required by law. All the three case studies explored in this paper deal with local spatial plans at the neighborhood level, but each expresses a very different participation mode: one is a national, government-led program; the second is a residents-led opposition to a municipal plan; and the third is a third-sector initiative offering an alternative plan to an existing one. The findings suggest that there is a correlation between the initiating body, its commitment to participation and the level of success of the participatory process.

This paper focuses on three specific participatory spatial planning projects in Israel. Further exploration of additional participatory projects may prove useful to verify or refute the conclusions reached in this paper.

There is very little exploration and evaluation of participatory spatial planning processes in Israel. This paper provides a valuable, although limited, analysis, linking participatory planning theory to practice within the Israeli context.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors underlying residents’ lack of involvement and engagement with their city brand. This paper addresses the gap in understanding residents’ disengagement from their city brand.

In-depth interviews with 14 residents of Dunedin City, New Zealand, were conducted to identify and understand the factors that underlie residents’ disengagement from their city brand. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Four major themes or factors that influence residents’ disengagement were identified: lack of brand awareness/knowledge; lack of brand identification; disapproval of local government actions; and cynical attitudes towards involvement.

This paper focuses on one city brand, with its unique history and institutional context, and the thoughts and experiences of a limited group of residents, thus limiting the applicability of the findings. A longitudinal study would be helpful to identify if residents’ engagement with their place brand change over time and the underlying reasons for such changes.

Extant research highlights the importance of a participatory, co-creative process between citizens and local governments for building city brands. Despite this, this study’s findings demonstrate that there might be several formidable barriers to resident participation in their city’s branding process.

This paper represents a first step in understanding what might trigger or contribute to residents becoming disengaged from their city’s brand. Therefore, this paper considers the “hidden voices” of residents who have become largely disconnected from the city brand.