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This article has been published in: Ocula 20, The Place of the User in Design

authors: Manel Djemel (Université de Montréal (CA)), Machelle Ye (Université de Montréal (CA)) , Rabah Bousbaci (Université de Montréal (CA)) and Gonzalo Lizarralde (Université de Montréal (CA))

The project’s temporality facing the ethical dilemmas of citizen participation

language: french

abstract: The project’s temporality facing the ethical dilemmas of citizen participation – Urban development projects mobilize a complex network of stakeholders (PP) that intervene at several scales and decision-making levels of the project. These PPs represent different and sometimes divergent interests. Research on development actors has shown the emergence of new paradigms that have a significant influence on decision-making processes. Among these, citizen participation (CP), presented as a modality that aims for “direct democracy” and “social justice”, and to promote the social acceptability of projects. Paradoxically, CP sometimes becomes a source of conflict and controversy, leading to complexification or even slowing of project processes. The purpose of this article is to understand the influence of CP-related conflicts and controversies on project timelines. We will approach this phenomenon from the angle of ethics, understood as the driving force of social justice. Based on the analysis of a construction project for a primary school in a borough of the city of Montreal, the observation of the phenomenon under the lens of ethical theories allows us to highlight the main controversies stemming from the CP and their effects on the time of project completion. The analysis shows that the participatory approach, which was initially put in place from the perspective of social inclusion and experimentation of new project cultures, led to a long decision-making process.

citation information: Manel Djemel, Machelle Ye, Rabah Bousbaci and Gonzalo Lizarralde, La temporalité du projet d’aménagement à l’épreuve des dilemmes éthiques liés à la participation citoyenne, "Ocula", vol.20, n.20, pp.27-46, October 2019. DOI: 10.12977/ocula2019-4

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