The Expansion of Participation: Geographers, Sociologists and Writers

Abstract

While architects were the leading professionals in terms of institutionalised participation and opportunities to develop ideas relevant for policy, in the 1960s their dominance of rural issues was challenged by the emergence of new sub-communities: geographers, sociologists and creative writers. These communities took advantage of the opportunities to develop institutions and explore rural issues in specialised forums; indeed, they were instructed to make use of the new situation. These developments were to have a fundamental impact on the politics of rural settlement policy. The growing strength of the new institutions and the increasing diversity of ideas began to affect modes of participation.