Community Planning: Glossary A - Z
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Common and not so common terms and concepts used in community planning simply explained. Also terms and concepts from the world of regeneration and environmental sustainability.

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Principles A-Z Principles Scenarios A-Zs Case studies Websites A-Zs Websites
Methods A-Z Methods Scenarios A-Zs Toolbox Glossary A-Zs Glossary
Scenarios A-Zs Scenarios Scenarios A-Zs Publication/ film Scenarios A-Zs Similar entry
Scenarios A-Zs Projects Scenarios A-Zs Contacts Scenarios A-Zs all other links


Criteria for inclusion:

In compiling this information we have had to make many decisions on terminology. Different people have used the same term to mean different things and different terms to mean the same thing. we have tried to use the simplest and most explanatory term wherever possible and avoid jargon.

But do not get hung up on terminology. If your ‘design workshop’ is more likely to be successful if you call it an ‘interactive planning meeting’, that is what you should call it. Generally, though, using simple and direct language is likely to be most successful in sustaining interest and enthusiasm.

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Glossary A-Z

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Last updated on:16 November 2009

21st century town meeting
Method involving very large numbers of community, industry and government representatives (100 to 5000 or more) in a forum of one or two days. Participants engage in formed deliberation in small groups, connected through networked computers. They work from pre-designed questions, entering their individual team consensus, as well as priority ratings and rankings. The goal is to find common ground and priorities on broad and complex issues. This is a multi-step process with intensive facilitation and includes trained facilitators and theme teams, as well as volunteer scribes.
America Speaks     America Speaks    
Access centre
Initiative which increases access to education, training, employment and other services (e.g. health) within a local setting. Can be either physical or virtual.
Full service school    
Accountability
Being answerable for decisions. When policy decisions are made openly to the population, who are capable of assessing whether it is a decision made in the wider public interest.
Action group
Informal organisation set up to get something achieved, usually through visible and public protest.
Action minutes
Record of a meeting in the form of a list of steps required, who should take them and when.
Action plan
Proposals for action. Usually in the form of a list of steps required, who should take them and when.
Action planner    
Action planning
An approach to planning and urban design involving the organisation of carefully structured collaborative events which produce proposals for action. Similar meaning as community planning event. Term also used to mean developing an action plan.
Action planning event     Action plan     Community planning event    
Action planning event
Carefully structured collaborative event at which all sections of the local community work closely with independent specialists from all relevant disciplines to produce proposals for action.
Community planning event     Community planning event    
Action research
Research oriented towards bringing about change, often involving respondents in the process of investigation, with the researchers being aware of their influence on the research process by being a part of the environment they study. (Sarkissian)
Active citizenship
Extensive participation in civic life by citizens. Allows people to play a greater role in public affairs and the delivery of public services.
Activity mapping
Plotting on a map or plan how people use places as an aid to understanding how best to improve them.
Mapping    
Activity week
Week of activities designed to promote interest in, and debate on, a chosen theme: eg Architecture week; Urban design week; Environment week.
Activity week    
Activity year
Year of activities designed to promote interest in, and debate on, a chosen theme: eg Glasgow 1999; UK City of Architecture and Design.
Adaptable model
Flexible model of an area or building which allows people to test out alternative design options.
Models    
Added value
Additional benefits gained as a by-product of a service or project.
Adventure playground
Playground that encourages children to construct and manage their own environment.
Advocacy planning
Professional planners working on behalf of the disadvantaged. Term popular in the United States in the early 1970s.
Agenda
Plan for a meeting. List of items to be discussed.
Alternative plan
Plan for a site or neighbourhood putting forward a different approach to the prevailing plan.
Community plan    
Amenity trust
Charitable organisation established to manage a public amenity.
Development trust    
Animateur
Person with good communications skills employed to assist in organizing and enlivening a community process, such as children’s participatory design activities. Often a community artist. (Sarkissian 2009)
Appreciative inquiry
Group working process which builds on potentials, solutions and benefits to create change.
The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry    
Archetypes
Places with certain easily identifiable qualities. Concept sometimes used in briefing and design workshops to get people to describe the kind of places they aspire to; for instance, a certain part of a certain city or a certain building.
Architects in schools
Environmental education programme involving architects working with children in schools.
Royal Institute of British Architects    
Architecture centre
Place aimed at helping people understand, and engage in, the design of the local built environment.
Architecture centre    
Architecture week
Week of activities designed to promote interest in, and debate on, architecture. Usually includes opening interesting buildings to the public.
Activity week    
Architecture workshop
Workshop session on architecture. Term also sometimes used to describe an architecture or community design centre.
Architecture centre     Community design centre    
Area based regeneration
Approach based on getting agencies involved in depressed areas working together to improve the quality of life.
Area forum
Body designed to improve relations between local authorities, public service providers and local residents. Provides an opportunity for residents to raise matters of local concern, give feedback on how services are being delivered and influence decisions being made about where they live. Also gives local authorities and service providers the chance to improve their knowledge and understanding of local issues.
Forum     Neighbourhood forum    
Area Investment Framework
Establishes regeneration priorities for an area with the aim of targeting funding from development agencies.
Art centre
Place providing a focus for the arts and local artists.
Art house
Building used as a base for local artists producing and exhibiting work with and about the local community. Used as a regeneration technique for developing local pride and talent.
Art centre    
Art workshop
Session where local residents work with artists designing and making artworks to improve their environment.
Art workshop    
Asset base
Capital assets of property or cash which underpin the operations of an organisation, for instance by generating revenue from rents.
Asset based development
Strategy to secure the future of community organisations and charities through possession of tangible assets such as land, buildings or a dedicated income. Ensures self-sufficiency, independence and sustainability.
Award scheme
Programme set up to promote good practice by presenting awards for excellence or effort.
Award scheme    
Awareness raising day
Day of activities designed to promote interest in a community planning issue, normally held prior to a planning day or other intensive activity
Barefoot architect
Architect who works in villages helping people construct their homes. Term used in Asia.
Community architect    
Baseline data
Information about the starting point of any project or initiative against which improvement can be measured later.
Beacon Council
Local authority recognised as achieving excellence in particular services. Scheme established by UK government to promote innovation.
Before and afters
Photos, drawings or computer simulations showing a place before and after development has taken place from the same viewpoint. One of the most effective ways of helping people understand proposals.
Benchmark
Indicator that allows people to measure the impact or success of a project by comparing it with something similar.
Bending the mainstream
Re-aligning the allocation of main public resources, such as the police and health services, to better target the most deprived areas or problematic issues.
Best fit slide rule
A visual discussion tool designed to examine alternative street infill solutions and their consequences. An elevation of a street is drawn or assembled with photos and alternative designs inserted.
Participatory Design    
Best practice
Superior performance in achieving a policy or objective. It is usual for best practice to be 'rolled out' or copied, leading to widespread performance improvements. Term 'good practice' has similar meaning.
Blight
When the value of land or property diminishes as a result of proposals for development or anticipated development.
Block models
Physical models where buildings are made out of wooden blocks.
Models    
Blu-tack®
Registered brand name for re-usable adhesive 'gum' for fastening paper etc to a surface.
BME
Commonly used abbreviation for 'Black and Minority Ethnic' group or community.
Bottom-up
Term used to refer to initiatives led by the community, as opposed to 'top down' initiatives led by the authorities.
Brainstorming
Vigorous discussion to generate ideas in which all possibilities are considered. Widely used first step in generating solutions to problems.
Brainwriting
Workshop process where group members respond in silence with four written suggestions to a given problem. Papers are then exchanged and members add suggestions to a ‘new’ paper. All papers are then compared and discussed by the group. (Sarkissian 2009)
Branding
Neighbourhood 'branding' uses simple images and text to establish a desired identity for an area. The branding process can be used as a core element of a community involvement strategy.
APaNGO    
Bridging
The linking of local, community based plans with statutory planning at local authority or regional level.
Briefing workshop
Working participatory sessions held at an early stage in a project or action planning event to establish a project agenda or brief.
Briefing workshop    
Brownfield land
Land that has been previously developed (in contrast to 'Greenfield' land).
Building cooperative
Cooperative building contractor. All members usually receive equal rates and decisions are made collectively.
Business planning
Testing the viability of a project or organisation by predicting income and expenditure over a period of time.
Business planning for real
Computer-based simulation which helps new or existing organisations 'play through' the choices they will face in developing a business plan. Groups assemble a list of projects they would like to undertake. These are fed into a computer and the cost implications printed out.
Good practice guide to community planning and development    
Business planning workshop
Session where participants work in small groups to determine project priorities and programme targets. Normally a draft business plan is prepared as a basis for discussion which is then amended until an agreed cash flow is arrived at.
Buzz group
Small group of people who work through an issue. Similar to a focus group or workshop.
Capability
The quality of being capable; the ability to do something.
Capacity building
The development of awareness, knowledge, skills and operational capability by certain actors, normally the community, to achieve their purpose.
Empowerment    
Capacity building workshop
Event organised primarily to establish partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors on development issues.
Case study
Description of a project. Used for helping others understand how it worked, or failed to work.
Chairperson
Individual who controls a meeting, deciding who can speak when.
Facilitator    
Champion
Individual who believes in an idea and will promote it through thick and thin. Important ingredient for most projects.
Moving spirits    
Charity
Organisation which acts in the interests of society rather than in pursuit of profit. May receive tax breaks and other benefits.
Chart
Large sheet of paper used for writing or drawing on, usually attached to walls or placed on an easel. Essential tool of participative working.
Flipchart    
Charter
Prospectus containing a set of principles to guide development of a place. Best developed using a collaborative process with key stakeholders. Three steps: Looking and Learning together; Setting standards for excellence; Committing resources to longer term priorities.
Choice catalogue
Menu of items, usually visually illustrated, showing a range of design choices available.
Choice catalogues    
Choices method
Visioning process based on four steps:
1. Meetings throughout the community to brainstorm ideas for making life better.
2. Consolidation of ideas into goals and vision statements.
3. A 'vision fair' where people vote on which visions they would like to pursue and make personal commitment
pledges.
4. Setting up of action groups to carry out chosen ideas.
Chattanooga     Participation Works!    
Citizens jury
Informal inquiry method where a group of around 16 people, selected to be representative of the community, spend a few days examining an issue, listening to witnesses and producing a report.
Participation Works!    
City farm
Working farm in an urban area, normally run by a voluntary committee of local people. Primary role is educational rather than food production.
Civil renewal
Individuals and groups becoming more actively involved in the well-being of their community, identifying and tackling problems to bring about change and improve the quality of life.
Civil society
The arena of organised citizen activity outside of the state and market sectors. People coming together to define, articulate, and act on their concerns through various forms of organisation and expression.
Client
Individual or organisation that commissions buildings or other projects.
User-client    
Clusters
Networks of interconnected firms and organisations working in a particular field such as universities and hi-tech industries. Business practice based on co-operation and collaboration between firms.
Co-operative
An enterprise conducted for the mutual benefit of its members. This might be a business that is democratic, each member having one vote irrespective of capital or labour input. Any economic surplus belongs to the members – after providing for reserves for the development of the business.
Housing co-operative    
Co-ownership
Tenure arrangement in which property is partly owned by the occupier, the remaining portion being gradually purchased during the period of occupation.
Cohousing
Housing with shared living components. Ranges from sharing of gardens to sharing of workshops, laundry rooms and even kitchens.
Cohousing     Cohousing Network UK    
Collaborative Design Workshop
Similar to design workshop or design charrette. Term used on this website for a one day workshop sandwiched between an open house event and public report back session
Design workshop     Design charrette     Collaborative Design Workshop    
Committee
Group of people elected or delegated to make decisions, usually in meetings.
Workshop    
Community
Used in many ways. Usually refers to those living within a small, loosely defined geographical area. Yet any group of individuals who share interests may also be described as a community. Also sometimes used to describe a physical area rather than a group of people
following entries on community    
Community action
A process by which the deprived define for themselves their needs, and determine forms of action to meet them, usually outside the prevailing political framework.
Community appraisal
Survey of the community by the community to identify needs and opportunities. Usually based on a self-completion questionnaire devised by the community and delivered to every household.
Village Appraisals Software for Windows     Community profiling    
Community architect
Architect who practises community architecture. Will often live and work in the neighbourhood he or she is designing for.
Community architecture    
Community architecture
Architecture carried out with the active participation of the end users. Similarly community design, community planning and so on.
Community art
Visual and performance art addressed to the needs of a local community. Often related to environmental issues.
Art workshop    
Community based organisation (CBO)
Voluntary organisation operating at a local level to represent a local community or interest group. term increasingly used at international level. Similar in meaning to community group.
Community group     Non governmental organisation (NGO)    
Community based regeneration
Programmes focused on people that usually involve some form of capacity building. Improves the ability of local people to influence decision-making within their own community.
Community build
Building construction carried out by members of the local community, often voluntarily or as part of a training course.
Self-build    
Community building
Building conceived, managed and sometimes built, by the local community for community use. Phrase also used to describe the activity of building a community; physically, socially and economically.
Community business
Trading organisation owned and controlled by the local community which aims to create self-supporting and viable jobs for local people and to use profits to create more employment, provide local services or support local charitable work.
Community car scheme
Provides a pool of cars across a district, for use by local people. Alternative to individual or family ownership of vehicles.
Community champion
Natural leader within a community who enjoys a great deal of respect from other residents. Has a strong concern for the community and other residents and is able to motivate others.
Champion    
Community Chest
Small grants available to community groups for projects to help them renew their own neighbourhoods.
Community cohesion
Where diverse backgrounds and cultures are valued in a community and where there is a common vision and sense of belonging.
Community consultation
Finding out what local people want.
Consultation    
Community design
Design carried out with the active participation of the end users. Similarly community architecture, community planning and so on.
Community design centre
Place providing free or subsidised architectural, planning and design services to people who cannot afford to pay for them. Also known as a community technical aid centre.
Community design centre     Community technical aid centre    
Community design house
Local office used by a community designer or community architect. Term used in Japan.
Community design centre    
Community designer
Practitioner of community design. Person who designs places with people rather than for people.
Community development
Promotion of self-managed, non-profit-orientated projects to serve community needs.
Community development corporation
Non-profit-orientated company undertaking development for community benefit. American concept similar to the UK's development trust.
Development trust    
Community driven
Term used to reflect key role of the community in an initiative.
Community enterprise
Enterprise for the benefit of the community rather than private profit by people within the community.
Community forest
Woodland area developed and managed by and for the communities living in and around it. Programme established in England by the Countryside Agency and Forestry Commission.
Community garden
Publicly accessible garden or small park created and managed by a voluntary group.
Community group
Voluntary organisation operating at local level.
Community based organisation (CBO)    
Community indicators
Measures devised and used by communities for understanding and drawing attention to important issues and trends. Useful for building an agenda for education and action.
Communities Count!    
Community land trust
Independent non-profit trusts which own or control land and facilities in perpetuity for the benefit of the community.
Community land trusts    
Community landscape
Landscape architecture or design carried out with the active participation of the end users.
Community learning and education centre
Focal point for information and education at community level.
Community Led Plans
Plans founded on community involvement and led by voluntary groups.
Community led planning    
Community mapping
Making maps as a communal activity.
Mapping    
Community memory
Collective sense of local identity and experience (eg of past participatory activity).
Community monster
Community leader who abuses their position and becomes a tyrant
Community newspaper
Information source controlled by the local community. Also community newsletter; similar on a smaller scale.
Community of practice
Process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations.
Community plan
Plan for the future of a community devised by the local community. Sets out proposals for the way in which a community wants to develop and respond to changes in the future. No set format. Will usually contain statements of principle, physical design proposals and targets.
Community plan checklist    
Community planning
Planning carried out with the active participation of the end users. Similarly community architecture, community design and so on.
Community planning council
Umbrella organisation at neighbourhood level with powers to deal with planning matters. Concept developed and recommended by the UK's Royal Town Planning Institute in 1982. Councils would be made up of representatives from various sectional voluntary interests.
Forum    
Community planning event
Carefully structured collaborative event at which all stakeholders, including the local community, work closely with specialists from all relevant disciplines to make plans for the future of that community or some aspects of it.
Community planning event    
Community planning forum
Multipurpose session lasting several hours designed to secure information, generate ideas and create interaction between interest groups.
Community planning forum    
Community planning weekend
Term most commonly used in the UK for a community planning event spanning a weekend. First used in 1989 at Bishopsgate, London. The term planning weekend is also used. Terms planning week and community planning week have also been used for slightly longer events. Also community planning day.
Planning weekend    
Community politics
Style of political action through which people are enabled to control their own destinies. Identified with an on-going political movement which seeks to create a participatory democracy.
Community profiling
Way of reaching an understanding of the needs and resources of a community with the active involvement of the community. Similar approach as participatory appraisal.
Community profiling    
Community project
Facility for the local community, created and managed by a voluntary committee, elected or unelected, from that community.
Community safety plan
Plan drawn up by the local community to reduce crime and disorder.
Community strategy
Strategy which sets out a framework for regeneration and service improvement in a local authority area.
Community technical aid
Multi-disciplinary expert assistance to community groups enabling them to play an active role in the development of land and buildings. The term 'technical aid' is used to cover the diverse range of skills likely to be needed including architecture, planning, landscaping, engineering, surveying, ecology, environmental education, financial planning, management, administration and graphics.
Community technical aid centre
Place staffed by multidisciplinary group of experts who work for voluntary groups, helping them to undertake any project involving the development of buildings and land. Will provide whatever assistance is needed – design, planning, organisation, decision-making, management – from conception to completion. Similar to a community design centre.
Community design centre    
Community trust
Independent fundraising and grant-making charity which funds initiatives in the local community.
Community visioning
Thinking collectively about what the future could be. Term used to describe group working processes which help a community to develop imaginative shared visions for the future of a site, area or organisation. Approach often adopted by local authorities at an early stage in the plan-making process.
New Economics Foundation     Future search conference    
Compact
Understanding between government (national or local) and the voluntary sector (in the guise of its representative bodies or through wider consultation) on how relations between the two should be conducted.
Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO)
Power allowing government (national or local) to acquire privately owned land or property to fulfil certain obligations.
Computer aided design
Way of visually simulating designs in three dimensions on computer.
Consensus building
Procedure for helping people with different views to come together interactively on a dispute, project, plan or issue, to work towards agreeing a sensible solution or way forward which is mutually satisfactory.
Consensus forum
Where a large number of stakeholders deliberate for between one and three days with the goal of reaching common ground on broad and complex issues and influencing decision making. Participants are selected to be representative of the community and are overseen by a Guidance Team. Trained table facilitators assist and a forum report is prepared for comment. (Sarkissian 2009)
Consultation
Seeking people's views (but not necessarily involving them in decision-making).
Consultation day
One-day event designed to consult key stakeholders or the general public on a particular issue.
Stakeholder participation day    
Consultation fatigue
Lack of public interest in consultation initiatives. Usually caused by an excess of consultations (due to lack of coordination by agencies) and/or a perceived lack of any results from past consultations.
Coproduction
Shared responsibility between citizens and public officials for producing services and managing development processes. Purpose: to work together constructively through inevitable tensions and conflicts, negotiating outcomes with recognized power and responsibility sharing. Term used widely in Europe to mean community engagement. (Sarkissian 2009)
Core costs
Expenditure essential to keep an organisation going. As opposed to project costs. Includes such things as staff wages, rent, heating.
Cost benefit analysis
Widely used technique used to decide whether to make changes to a project or programme based on the costs and benefits of different courses of action.
Countryside design summary
Simple description of the design relationship between the landscape, settlement patterns and buildings. Usually produced by the planning authority for a region, often combined with the production of local design statements for neighbourhoods within the region.
Local design statement    
Credit union
Financial co-operative owned and controlled by its members. Offers savings and loans at competitive rates, often to people unable to access mainstream banking services.
Critical friend
Someone who will point out what you are getting wrong, as well as right, in a constructive manner.
Critical mass event
Umbrella term for organisation development techniques involving large-scale events often lasting several days and often involving hundreds of people. Mostly used for organisational change but may also be appropriate for community planning. Labels given to specific types of event - structured in different ways and promoted by different people - include future search conference, large-scale interactive process, conference model, real-time strategic change, participative work redesign and open space workshops.
Future search conference     Open space workshop     Future search conference     Open space workshop    
Daily routine chart
Diagram showing people's daily activities and time taken to accomplish each of them. Usually produced by groups of women, men and children separately. Useful to deepen the analysis on seasonal calendars and highlight divisions of labour and responsibilities.
Community profiling     Seasonal calendar    
Deadweight
Improvements that would have occurred naturally without the intervention of a regeneration programme.
Delegated power
Where decision-making is moved to another authority or body.
Deprivation
Condition in which individuals, groups or communities do not have adequate food, shelter, education or opportunities for improvement.
Design assistance team (DAT)
Multidisciplinary team which visits an area and produces recommendations for action, usually after facilitating a community planning event. Term used by the American Institute of Architects to describe state-level events which evolved from its national level Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team (R/UDAT) programme. Similar terms in use include Urban design assistance team (UDAT) and Housing assistance team (HAT) (where only housing involved). Local DAT programmes have a wide variety of names; for example Ontario’s Community Assist/Urban Study Effort (CAUSE) and Mississippi’s Small Town Action Team (STAT). First UK event was called a Community/Urban Design Assistance Team (CUDAT).
Design assistance team    
Design charrette
Intensive design session, often including "all-nighter", originally just for architecture students but more recently including the public and professionals. Term originated at the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts at the turn of the century. Projects were collected at designated times on a cart ("charrette") where students would be found putting finishing touches to their schemes. Term now widely used in the USA to describe any intensive, group brainstorming effort. Charrette often used without the "Design" in front. Similar to design workshop
Design workshop     Design workshop    
Design day
Day when architects and local people brainstorm for design solutions to particular building problems, usually in teams. Term also used to describe day when local residents can drop in and talk through design ideas with professionals.
Building Homes People Want     Drop-in office    
Design fest
Action planning event where multidisciplinary design teams develop and present their ideas in public.
Design fest    
Design game
Method for devising building and landscape layouts with residents using coloured cut-outs of possible design features on plans.
Design game    
Design guide
Document setting out general urban design principles which should be adopted by any development in an area.
Local design statement    
Design meeting
Meeting for developing designs. Usually organised on a regular basis during the design stage of a project. Users and professionals will be present. The users, or clients, set the agenda but the meeting is normally conducted by the professionals. Various techniques will be used to present information and make decisions: showing slides, models, drawings, catalogues. Normal arrangement is for participants to sit round a table.
Design quality indicator (DQI)
Process for evaluating design quality of buildings which can be used by everyone involved in the development process. Generic toolkit available which can be used with all types of building. 
Design quality indicator (DQI)    
Design simulation
Playing at designing to get people used to the various roles in the design process.
Design surgery
Where architects, planners or other professionals work through design issues with individuals, for instance occupants in a new housing scheme.
Design workshop
Hands-on session allowing groups to work creatively developing planning and design options. Sometimes called hands-on planning.
Design workshop     Design charrette    
Designing for real
Term used to describe the use of adaptable models to develop detailed design proposals for a building or site. Participants explore options by moving parts of the model around: ie, parts of a building or whole buildings. Similar concept to Planning for Real but on a smaller scale.
Planning for Real     Planning for Real    
Development officer
Individual who gets a project or organisation up and running.
Development partnership
Arrangement for collaboration by two or more parties to facilitate development, usually between the public and private sectors.
Partnership    
Development Trust
Independent, not-for-profit organisation controlled by local people which facilitates and undertakes physical development in an area. It will have significant community involvement or control, will bring together a wide range of skills and interests, and will aim to sustain its operations at least in part by generating revenue.
Development trust     Community development corporation    
Diagramming
Creating diagrams in groups.
Diagrams     Diagrams    
Diagrams
Visual representations of information which help explain current issues or future proposals.
Diagrams    
Direct action
Exertion of political pressure by tactics other than voting at elections. Usually used to refer to strikes, squatting or occupations.
Direct observation
Noting of events, objects, processes and relationships; particularly useful for issues hard to verbalise.
Disabling
Non-participatory form of service which renders the user unable to have a say in the process.
Disaster
Serious disruption of the functioning of society, causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its own resources (UNDP 91).
Disaster management
All aspects of planning for, and responding to, disasters.
Disaster mitigation
Reducing the impact of disasters on society by reducing the hazards and/or society's vulnerability to them.
see also
Mitigation    
Disaster preparedness
The ability to predict, respond and cope with the effects of a disaster.
Disaster relief
Extraordinary measures necessary for coping with a disaster.
Discussion groups
Method of social research involving a group of people who are brought together to discuss their views or experiences surrounding a particular topic.
Discussion method
Structure for effective communication which allows everyone in a group to participate.
see also Technology of participation
Technology of participation    
Displacement
Extent to which the added value of a regeneration project is reduced by causing existing activity to relocate or be replaced.
Drop-in office
Working office open to the public. Set up by architects or urban designers working in a neighbourhood to encourage local involvement in the design process. May be permanent or temporary (on an open day for instance).
E-Government
Delivery of government services and information through electronic means such as the internet, digital television and other digital technologies.
Eco-town
Exemplar green development which meets the highest standards of sustainability, including low and zero carbon technologies and quality public transport systems. It will make use of brownfield land and surplus public sector land where practical and lead the way in design, facilities, services and community involvement.
Economic audit
Audit of local economy, usually undertaken by independent professional economist.
Education Action Zone (EAZ)
Defined area with high levels of deprivation and low educational attainment that receives grants to raise education standards.
Elevation montage
Display technique for helping people to understand and make changes to streetscapes.
Elevation montage    
Employment zone
Area where additional money is available to help the long-term unemployed into work.
Empowerment
Development of confidence and skills in individuals or communities leading to them being able to take more control over their own destinies.
Capacity building    
Enabler
Professional or other person with technical expertise or in a position of authority who uses it to help people to do things for themselves. The term can also be used to refer to organisations which behave likewise.
Enabling
Professional and other services that consciously encourage or allow users to participate.
Enabler    
Enquiry by Design
Intensive workshop process involving urban designers and local stakeholders. Devised for developing plans for new build and regeneration by The Prince’s Foundation.
The Prince's Foundation     Enquiry by Design    
Enspirited envisioning
Way of developing individual and shared visions of the future through personal and group development.
Participation works!    
Enterprise agency
Non-profit-making company whose prime objective is to respond through practical action to the economic and training needs of its local community. A principal activity is providing free advice and counselling to support the setting up and development of viable small businesses. Mostly public sector-led in partnership with the private sector but there are many exceptions.
Enterprise zone
Area for industrial development within an older urban area where businesses can benefit from relief from paying business rates and from relaxed planning restrictions.
Environment forum
Non-statutory body for discussing and co-ordinating environmental issues in an area.
Forum    
Environment shop
Shop selling items and providing information which helps people improve their environment. Similarly architecture shop, conservation shop etc.
Environment shop    
Environment week
Week of activities designed to promote interest in, and debate on, the environment.
Activity week    
Environmental capital
Inclusive, participatory process for evaluating what environmental features and attitudes matter to local interest groups and why.
Environmental education
Programmes aimed at making people more aware of their environment and the forces which shape it.
Environmental impact assessment
Process whereby all impacts of a development are identified and their significance assessed. Increasingly a statutory requirement before planning permission is granted by a local authority.
Envisioning
Similar meaning to visioning.
Visioning    
Estate Management Board (EMB)
Partnership between tenants and their landlord which gives tenants more control over the day-to-day running of their housing.
Exhibition
Displays of information. May be simply for presenting information or for getting feedback too.
Interactive exhibition    
Exit strategy
Arrangement for continuing the process of renewal and development after funding from a programme stops. Sometimes called a forward, continuation or succession strategy.
Extended school
School which opens up its facilities to the wider community outside of traditional school hours; for example sport facilities, ICT suites and after-school clubs. Aim to integrate the school and the community and provide public services not otherwise accessible to the general population.
Full service school    
Facilitation
The art and science of managing meetings and group processes. Bringing people together to decide what they wish to do, and to work together to decide how to do it.
Facilitator
Person who steers a process, meeting or workshop. Less dominant role than a "chairperson". Also known as a moderator.
Farmers market
Market exclusively for local food producers and countryside products.
Feasibility fund
Revolving fund providing grants to community groups for paying professional fees for the preparation of feasibility studies for community projects. Also known as a community projects fund.
Feasibility fund    
Feasibility study
Examination of the viability of an idea, usually resulting in a report.
Fence method
Prioritising procedure using a line with a fence in the middle to establish people"s views on conflicting alternatives.
Prioritising    
Festival market
Market for bric-a-brac and crafts.
Field workshop
Workshop programme on location. Term used to describe events lasting several days involving a range of community profiling, risk assessment and plan-making activities.
Field workshop    
Financial exclusion
Where people do not have access to mainstream financial services (including high street banks), usually due to living in a poor area, being reliant on benefits, or having a low income.
Fish bowl
Workshop technique where participants sit around, and observe, a planning team working on a problem without taking part themselves.
Community Participation in Practice; A Practical Guide    
Five Ws plus H
What, When, Why, Who, Where and How. Useful checklist in planning any activity.
Flipchart
Large pad of paper on an easel. Standard equipment for participatory workshops as it allows notetaking to be visible.
Flipcharter
Person who records points made at a workshop or plenary session on a flipchart or large sheet of paper pinned on a wall in full view of the participants.
Flipchart    
Floor target
Minimum outcome required, usually of service providers by government.
Fly-posting
Pasting up posters in public places, usually without permission from building owners or authorities.
Focus group
Small group of people who work through an issue in workshop sessions. Membership may be carefully selected or entirely random.
Forum
Non-statutory body for discussing and coordinating activity and acting as a pressure group for change. Term also used to describe a one-off open meeting aiming to create interaction.
Environment forum     Neighbourhood forum     Community planning forum     Public forum    
Foyer
Residential centre that provides homes, training and work opportunities for homeless young people.
Full service school
One-stop centre for children, their families and the wider community where schools house a variety of public services such as healthcare, careers services, employment training, housing services and family welfare.
Extended school    
Full-scale simulation
Acting out a scenario to test a design idea using full-scale mock-ups. Particularly useful for helping people design new building forms.
Design simulation     Mock-up    
Future search conference
Highly structured two and a half day process allowing a community or organisation to create a shared vision for its future. Ideally 64 people take part; eight tables of eight.
Future search conference    
Futures workshop
Term used for a workshop devised to discuss options for the future. Various formats are possible.
Briefing workshop     Design workshop    
Gallery walk
Report back process where workshop flipchart sheets are pinned up at a plenary session and the reporter 'walks' past the sheets, using them as a prompt to summarise what took place.
Gaming
The use of games to simulate real situations.
Gaming     Role play     Simulation    
Gap funding
Government incentive to encourage developers to build on unprofitable brownfield sites.
Giving evidence
Formal presentation of information, for instance to a public inquiry or local authority committee.
Goal-Oriented Project Planning (GOPP)
Tool for project management in which interactive workshops involving all stakeholders in a project together with an external moderator are held at different points in the project lifecycle. Uses logical framework analysis
GOPP Moderators Association     Upgrading Urban Communities     Logical framework analysis    
Governance
Ways in which political, economic, social and cultural life is co-ordinated at global, national, regional and local levels.
Green belt
Area restricted from building use and allowed to remain in a natural state or retained for agricultural use to contain development, preserve the character of the countryside and provide open space.
Green sheet
Feedback form (usually printed on green paper) for SpeakOut workshop participants to fill in if they wish further information, want to be contacted after the event or feel that issues they wish to raise were not addressed fully during the workshop. The workshop Chair or other representative of the client should respond to all green sheets in writing or by telephone as soon as possible after the workshop.
SpeakOut    
Greenfield development
Development on land that has never previously been developed.
Group interview
Pre-arranged discussion with an invited group to analyse topics or issues against a checklist of points or local concerns.
Interview    
Group modelling
Use of physical models as a basis for working in groups to learn, explore and make decisions about the environment.
Models    
Guided visualisation
Group process using mental visualisation techniques for establishing a community's aspirations.
Participation Works!    
Habitat
The social and economic, as well as physical, shelter essential for well-being.
Hands-on planning
Method of community involvement in planning where small groups make plans for the future using table top plans or flexible cardboard models. Often referred to as Planning for Real but this term has been registered by the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation to apply to its own method only.
Planning for Real    
Hazard
Phenomenon that poses a threat to people, structures or economic assets and which may cause a disaster. It could be either human-made or naturally occurring.
Hazard analysis
Identification of types of hazard faced by a community, their intensity, frequency and location.
Headline indicators
Main set of data that describes the factors to be changed.
Healthcheck
Tool based on worksheets and community consultation to help identify the strengths and weaknesses of a town as a basis for producing plans of action. Designed by The Countryside Agency (now English Nature). See Pub:
Planning for Vital Communities.    
Healthy Cities
Programme led by the World Health Organisation to put health on the agenda of decision-makers in cities and to build strong support for public health at the local level.
Heritage centre
Place aimed at helping people understand, and engage in, the historic local built environment. Key elements: old photos, old artefacts, leaflets, books, information sheets, maps, postcards, models, trails.
Architecture centre     Local heritage initiative    
Historic buildings trust
Charitable organisation set up to preserve historic buildings.
Historical profile
Key events and trends in a community?s development, usually displayed visually.
Community profiling    
Historical profiling
Construction of historical profile in groups. Information about past events is gathered to explain the present and predict possible future scenarios. One approach involves people describing and explaining their life history with respect to particular issues. Information is marked up on maps or charts to build a comprehensive time-line of events and issues that mould and affect a community.
Home zone
Area where roads are shared by vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians to promote quality of life, community spirit and safer play and recreation.
Homeowners file
File of book-keeping schedules designed to help families to control the construction and management of their homes.
Homesteading
Programme in which property owners (usually local authorities) offer substandard property for sale at low cost to householders who will work on them in their own time, doing basic repairs and renovation to standards monitored by the original owners.
House manual
Record of useful information and tips from previous occupants on how to manage and look after a house.
Housing association
Association run by an elected management committee which uses government money to provide housing in areas and for people which the government believes to be a high priority. Building society money is also increasingly used to fund housing associations.
Housing co-operative
Organisation which owns or manages housing and which is owned and managed by the occupants of that housing. Often referred to as a housing co-op.
Co-operative     Secondary co-operative    
Human capital
Ability of individuals to do productive work; includes physical and mental health, strength, stamina, knowledge, skills, motivation and a constructive and co-operative attitude.
Social capital    
Icebreaker
Group activity aimed at making people feel comfortable with each other. Often held at the start of action planning events.
Ideas competition
Competition for generating options for improving a neighbourhood, building or site aimed at stimulating creative thinking and generating interest.
Ideas competition    
Illustrated questionnaire
Questionnaire with pictures to find out people?s design preferences.
Choice catalogue     Questionnaire survey    
Imagine
Method for establishing positive initiatives based on a structured approach to imagining the future.
Participation Works!    
Imaging day
Day when people visualise the future with the assistance of a skilled artist.
Immediate report writing
Writing reports in the field or at an event rather doing it later in the office.
Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)
Ranking of wards and districts according to factors such as health, education and employment. Used as the basis for government allocation of funds for neighbourhood renewal and tackling deprivation.
Informal walk
Walking in a group without a definite route, stopping to chat and discuss issues as they arise.
Community profiling    
Interactive display
Visual display which allows people to participate by making additions or alterations. Also known as a hands-on display.
Interactive display    
Interactive exhibition
Exhibition which allows people to participate by making additions or alterations. Also known as a hands-on exhibition.
Interactive display     Open house event    
Interview
Recorded conversation, usually with prepared questions, with individuals or groups. Useful for information gathering. More flexible and interactive than a questionnaire.
Group interview     Key informant interview     Semi structured interview    
Jigsaw display
Exhibit where groups prepare different parts which are then assembled as a whole.
Key informant
Person with special knowledge.
Key informant interview
Informal discussion based on a pre-determined set of questions with people who have special knowledge.
see also Interview
Interview    
KISS
Stands for 'Keep It Simple, Stupid'. Useful reminder in a complex field.
Ladder of participation
Useful and popular analogy for likening the degree of citizen participation in any activity to a series of rungs on a ladder. First put forward in 1969 (by Sherry Arnstein) with 8 rungs:
1. Citizen control.
2. Delegated power.
3. Partnership.
4. Placation.
5. Consultation.
6. Informing.
7. Therapy.
8. Manipulation.
This has been modified in many different ways by many people since.
Participation Matrix     The Guide to Effective Participation     Participation matrix    
Landscape character assessment
Process for describing an area\'s sense of place, features and attributes. Useful foundation for making planning and land management decisions for an area.
Local character workshop    
Launch
Event to promote the start of an initiative or project. Useful for generating interest and involvement.
Leaflet
Sheet of paper providing information, usually produced in large quantities. Standard publicity technique.
Leakage
Extent to which a proposed activity benefits people outside the target area or group that it was intended for.
Leverage
Additional money or activity that an investment in a programme leads to.
Lifetime homes
Housebuilding approach that enables inhabitants to remain in the same home throughout all stages of their life. Developed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Linkage diagram
Shows flows, connections and causality.
Diagrams    
Listener
Facilitator at an issue stall in a SpeakOut.
SpeakOut    
Livability
Somewhat loose measure of the quality of life where needs that are justifiable according to natural justice are met.
Living over the shop scheme
Programme to encourage people to occupy vacant premises over shops, usually by offering grant aid. Town centre regeneration method.
Lobbying
Influencing decision-makers through individual and group face-to-face persuasion or letter writing.
Local
Pertaining to a particular rural or urban place or area.
Local Area Agreement (LAA)
Agreement between local and national government that gives local authorities more flexibility in the way in which they set and meet targets and deliver public services.
Local authority
Organisation governing local area. For instance; borough council, county council, town council, village council.
Local character workshop
Workshop designed to help people identify what makes an area special. Usually undertaken as part of preparing a local design statement or landscape character assessment. Involves mapping and photo surveys.
Landscape character assessment     Local design statement    
Local design statement
Published statement produced by a community identifying the distinctive character of the place. The aim is for it to be used by planning authorities to ensure that future development and change is sympathetic and has community support.
Local design statement    
Local development framework (LDF)
A suite of documents that outlines how planning will be managed in an area. Includes core strategy, supplementary planning documents and a Statement of Community Involvement.
Local environmental resource centre
Resource centre focusing on local environmental issues.
Resource centre    
Local heritage initiative
Process for helping people record and care for their local landscape, landmarks and traditions.
Local people
People who live in a particular rural or urban place or area.
Local public sector board
Allows all public sector organisations (e.g. councils, police, health, fire) in a locality to meet and work together on an agreed services improvement plan.
Local regeneration agency
Organisation set up to undertake regeneration work in an area.
Local resource centre
Place providing information and support for people at a community level.
Resource centre    
Local strategic partnership (LSP)
Partnership between different parts of the public sector with private business and the voluntary and community sector in order to deliver services more effectively. Designed to rationalise and simplify other local partnership arrangements and work with neighbourhood-based partnerships. Expected to prepare and implement the Community Strategy and develop targets for Public Service Agreements.
Community strategy    
Local support team
Locally-based team providing expertise for an activity or event.
Local sustainability model
Process allowing a community to assess its present position and test the likely effect of projects.
publication or film Participation Works!
Participation Works!    
Logical framework analysis
Method for thoroughly testing the effectiveness of any project or proposal by completing a table known as a Log Frame. Assesses goal, objectives, outputs, activities, indicators, assumptions, inputs and effects. Much used by international funding agencies.
Goal-Oriented Project Planning (GOPP)     
Looking and Learning
Method for collaborative planning with a main feature being visits by key stakeholders to other places, both successful and unsuccessful, to learn the lessons.
Low-cost housing
Housing affordable by people on low incomes.
Affordable housing    
Mainstreaming
Realigning the allocation of main public sector resources, such as the police and health services, to target the most deprived areas and sustain regeneration activity piloted through short-term funding.
Maintenance manual
Instructions on how to maintain a building or open space. Important for helping users to keep places in good order.
Managed workspace
Communally managed building for individual, and independent, enterprises sharing common support facilities and services. Sometimes known as a working community.
Management committee
Governing body of a project or organisation. Similar to board of directors in a company.
Mapping
Physical plotting of various characteristics of an area in two dimensions. May be done individually or communally.
Activity mapping     Community mapping     Mental mapping     Mind map     Parish mapping     Mapping    
Market
Place for buying and selling goods and services. An important regeneration tool. Types of market include: street market, covered market, farmers market, festival market.
Market town
Small town, generally with a population of up to 10,000 people, which supports an economy and community containing both the settlement and a defined rural hinterland.
Market town action plan
Document which sets out and justifies the various projects and initiatives decided upon. Will normally include: summary of the town’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; vision which responds to those elements; statement of strategic objectives; listing of specific projects with funding and phasing details.
Masterplan
Overall planning framework for the future of a settlement. May be highly detailed or schematic. Used to provide a vision and structure to guide development.
Matrix
Diagram in the form of a grid allowing comparison of two variables. Used for assessing options.
Diagrams    
Mediation
Voluntary process of helping people resolve their differences with the assistance of a neutral person.
Meeting
Event where people come together to discuss and decide. May be formal or informal, public or private.
Mental mapping
Production of maps by individuals or communities showing how they perceive their neighbourhood (as opposed to geographically accurate maps).
Mapping    
Micro-finance
Banking system which provides small loans to poor people without collateral.
Microfinance
Financial services that poor, unbanked or socially excluded people desire and are willing to pay for. The term also refers to the practice of sustainably delivering those services.
Microplanning workshop
Intensive planning procedure developed specifically for upgrading settlements in developing countries involving a minimum of preparation, materials and training. Also referred to as community action planning.
Microplanning workshop    
Milestones
Key events with dates marking stages in the progress of a project or programme.
Mind map
Diagram showing people's perceptions of trends and linkages. Not a geographical map. Used in future search conferences.
Diagrams     Future search conference    
Mini visioning
Basic and succinct visioning workshops.
Visioning    
Mission statement
Written explanation of the purpose of a project, event or organisation. Usually brief and to the point. Useful for avoiding misunderstanding, particularly in partnerships.
Mitigation
Measures taken to minimise the impact of a disaster. By modifying the hazard itself or by reducing vulnerability to it. Ranges from physical measures such as flood defenses, to raising people's living standards so they no longer need to inhabit areas at risk. Mitigation can take place before, during and after a disaster.
Mobile unit
Caravan or mobile home converted into an office/studio as a base for undertaking community planning activity on location.
Mobile unit    
Mock-up
Full-size representation of a change or development, usually on its proposed site, prior to finalising the design.
Modelling
Making models. Usually refers to making models as a group process. Similar to mapping but in three dimensions instead of two.
see also Mapping
see also Models
Mapping     Models    
Models
Physical three-dimensional constructions simulating a building or neighbourhood.
Models    
Moderated planning workshop
Structured meeting in which partners in a project can discuss and
agree objectives, goals and responsibilities to create a
plan for further action. Run by a neutral facilitator. Increasingly used in multi-partner, transnational projects in Europe.
Moving spirits
People in a community who want to improve things for the better and who are prepared to give time and thought to something they think might help. Also referred to as movers and shakers or social entrepreneurs.
Champion    
Multiplier
Additional or second level effect of a programme over and above that resulting directly from programme funds.
Mutual aid
Where people help each other without any formal organisation.
Neighbourhood council
Elected body at neighbourhood level with certain statutory powers. Urban equivalent of a parish council and effectively a mini local authority.
Neighbourhood forum
Non-statutory body for discussing a neighbourhood's affairs and acting as a pressure group for improvements. Members may be publicly elected - usually in categories (eg residents, traders, churches, etc.) - or be nominated by organisations entitled to be represented under the constitution. May be effectively a non-statutory neighbourhood council although procedural practice varies considerably.
Neighbourhood management
Way of encouraging stakeholders to work with service providers to help improve the quality of services delivered in deprived neighbourhoods.
Neighbourhood planning office
Local office established to co-ordinate community planning activity.
Neighbourhood planning office    
Neighbourhood renewal
Programme to narrow the gap between rich and poor communities involving physical, economic and social recovery of deprived areas.
Neighbourhood renewal fund (NRF)
Provides public services and communities in a country’s poorest local authority districts with extra funds to tackle deprivation.
Neighbourhood skills survey
Survey to establish what skills and abilities people have in a neighbourhood. Used to find out what a community can do for itself and to generate interest. Sometimes referred to as a neighbourhood talent survey.
see also Neighbourhood skills survey checklist
see also Resource survey
Neighbourhood skills survey checklist    
Neighbourhood warden
Semi-official presence in a local area to prevent anti-social behaviour, maintain the local environment, reduce crime and fear of crime. Provides a complementary service alongside the police and environmental services.
Net-map
An interview-based mapping tool that helps people understand, visualize, discuss, and improve situations in which many different actors influence outcomes. By creating Influence Network Maps, individuals and groups can clarify their own view of a situation, foster discussion, and develop a strategic approach to their networking activities.
Netmap blog     VisualComplexity    
Networking
Exchanging experience with people engaged in similar activities. Usually in an informal manner.
New localism
Drive to devolve power from central departments to the local level. Signals a move away from centralisation towards strengthened local centres. Involves an acceptance that local problems cannot be solved by standardised approaches imposed from above and that local agencies need more space to meet national priorities more effectively.
New town
City, town, or community created in a rural or underdeveloped area and designed to be self-sufficient with its own housing, education, commerce and recreation facilities.
Newspaper supplement
Special insert or section of a newspaper. Can be used to cover local design issues.
Newspaper supplement    
Non governmental organisation (NGO)
Voluntary and non-profit-distributing organisation. The difference between an NGO and a CBO (community-based organisation) is that an NGO is normally organised and funded from outside the local community in which it operates.
Community based organisation    
Not For Profit Organisation
Any society, association or organisation not carried out for the profit or gain of any member and whose rules do not allow money, property or any other benefits to be distributed to any of its members.
Notetaker
Person who records points made at a workshop or plenary session with a view to writing up a record and/or making a presentation of the results.
 
Off-setting biases
Being self-critically aware of biases in behaviour and learning, and deliberately countering them.
One stop shop
Single multi-purpose facility that enables local residents to access a wide range of services.
Open day
Day when a project or organisation encourages people to come and find out what it is doing and how it works. Often used to generate interest and momentum.
Open design competition
Competition open to everyone. Contrasts with limited or closed competitions to which entry is restricted.
Ideas competition    
Open house event
Event designed to allow those promoting development initiatives to present them to a wider public and secure reactions in an informal manner. Halfway between an exhibition and a workshop.
Open house event    
Open space technology
Framework within which open space workshops are held.
Open space workshop    
Open space workshop
Workshop process for generating commitment to action in communities or organisations. Features include starting without an agenda.
Open space workshop    
Opinion survey
Survey to find out what people think about an issue.
Survey    
Option appraisal
Process of assessing a range of options to identify the particular projects to be undertaken.
Outcomes
Results of projects or programmes, usually unmeasurable (eg, people are happier).
Outputs    
Outputs
Measurable results of projects or programmes (eg, number of
trees planted).
Outcomes    
Outreach
Taking consultation to the people rather than expecting them to come to you.
Outsiders
Non-local people. Usually refers to professionals and facilitators.
Ownership
Term often used to refer to a sense of responsibility for an initiative or project. eg, 'People will have ownership of an idea or a project if they have been involved in creating it'.
Pair-wise ranking
Rapid and simple way of selecting the most important issues or problems facing a community. Brainstorming generates a preliminary list. A group of people then vote on the significance of every item against each other item using a matrix.
Paradigm
A coherent and mutually supporting pattern of concepts, values, methods and action, amenable or claiming to be amenable, to wide application.
Parish mapping
Arts based way in which a community can explore and express what they value in their place through the creation of maps out of a wide variety of materials.
Mapping     Common Ground    
Parish plan
Statement of how a local community (usually in a rural area) sees itself developing over the next few years.
Participation
Act of being involved in something.
Participation matrix
A simple illustration of how different levels of participation are appropriate at different stages of a project.

Participation matrix         
Participation training
Short courses or workshop sessions on participation approaches. May be aimed at professionals or community activists.
Participationitis
When everything has to be checked by everyone. Too much participation.
Participatory 3D Modelling (P3DM)
Merges conventional spatial information (contours) with people's mental maps; makes information tangible and meaningful-to-all, and visualizes scaled and geocoded indigenous spatial knowledge.
Participatory Avenues    
Participatory appraisal
An approach to gaining a rapid in-depth understanding of a community, or certain aspects of a community, based on the participation of that community and a range of visual techniques. Allows people to share and record aspects of their own situation, conditions of life, knowledge, perceptions, aspirations, preferences and develop plans for action. Not restricted to planning issues. Many terms used to imply similar concept including participatory learning and action.
Community profiling     Whose Reality Counts?    
Participatory budgeting
Mechanism which brings local communities closer to the decision-making process regarding the allocation of public budgets.
methods
Participatory Budgeting UK    
Participatory building evaluation
Method for users and providers to jointly assess the effectiveness of buildings after they have been built.
User Participation in Building Design and Management    
Participatory democracy
Process which involves people directly in decision-making which affects them, rather than through formally elected representatives such as councillors or MPs as in representative democracy.
Participatory design
Design processes which involve the users of the item or places being designed.
Participatory editing
Method of involving large numbers of people in producing reports and other material.
see also methods
Participatory editing    
Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PME)
Monitoring and evaluation undertaken with the participation of those who took part in the activity being monitored and evaluated.
Participatory theatre
The use of physical movement and creativity to explore people's experience and develop a common vision.
Participation Works!    
Partnership
Agreement between two or more individuals or organisations to work together to achieve common aims.
Managing Partnerships    
Partnership agreement
Formal document setting out the terms and conditions of a partnership arrangement.
Partnership    
Pathfinder
Project or programme which tries out new approaches that others can learn from.
Pattern language
Method devised to enable untrained people to design their own buildings and cities in accordance with well-tried principles of good design.
A Pattern Language    
Peer review
Evaluation of a piece of work by experts in the same field. Widely used for funding and publishing proposals but can also be useful for action plans and development proposals.  
Peoples wall
Wall covered with large sheets of paper where visitors to a design fest or workshop can write and draw.
Percent for participation
Campaign to get a percentage of total development costs spent on participation. Started by the Royal Institute of British Architects' Community Architecture Group.
Community Architecture Group    
Performance management framework
Strategies, plans, policies and indicators that enable the performance of an organisation (usually a local authority) to be effectively and efficiently monitored in an open and transparent manner.
Permaculture
Approach to designing sustainable environments based on ecological principles of co-operation with nature.
Permaculture design course
Courses aimed at making groups self-reliant and sustainable and helping them to take initiatives. Introductory courses last a weekend. Main courses are 2 weeks or a series of weekends.
Permaculture Association     The Permaculture Teachers Handbook    
Photo survey
Survey of locality using cameras.
Photo survey    
Pile sorting
Method of categorising by sorting cards or other items into piles. Used in group sessions.
Planning aid scheme
The provision of free and independent information and advice on town planning to groups and individuals who cannot afford consultancy fees.
Planning aid scheme    
Planning assistance kit
Series of worksheets designed to assist community organisations in physical planning, implementation and management of their environment.
Planning assistance team
Similar to a design assistance team. Event programme
started by US Air Force using a R/UDAT process on
weekdays for planning issues relating to its bases.
Design assistance team    
Planning day
Day when interested parties work intensively together developing urban design options for a site or neighbourhood.
see also methods
Planning day    
Planning department
Section of local authority dealing with planning issues.
Planning for Real ®
Technique for community involvement in planning and development focussing on the construction and use of flexible cardboard models and priority cards. Promoted and branded by the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation.
Planning for Real    
Planning gain
Benefits secured from a developer as part of a planning approval. For example, affordable housing, community facilities, a new footpath or road.
Planning weekend
Similar meaning to community planning weekend
Planning weekend     Community planning weekend    
Plenary session
Meeting of all participants at an event (for instance after a number of separate workshop groups).
Popular planning
Planning from the bottom up. Term used by the Greater London Council in the 1980s.
Post-it note ®
Or simply Post-it. Registered brand name for a sheet of paper with a sticky edge. Come in pads. Great technical aid to collective working as, unlike cards, they can be stuck on vertical surfaces and moved around to create groups.
Poverty trap
Describes a situation where a person or group of people find themselves unable to break out of a cycle of deprivation.
Preparedness
Measures taken in anticipation of a disaster aimed at minimising loss of life, disruption and damage if the disaster occurs. Includes formulating contingency plans, developing warning systems, maintenance of relief supplies and an efficient emergency relief distribution system.
Disaster    
Prioritising
Deciding what needs doing when. Ranking of problems to be dealt with or projects to be undertaken. Term usually used to refer to group prioritising processes.
Prioritising    
Priority Estates Project
Experimental UK government programme to give council tenants a chance to exercise more control over their homes and neighbourhoods by establishing estate-based management systems. Set up in 1979.
PEP    
Priority search
Survey technique based on a computerised questionnaire package which analyses responses to structured questions.
Problem tree
Visual way of analysing the inter-relationships among community issues and problems. A process of asking why is used to arrive at consensus about root causes and related effects. A symbolic tree is drawn with the trunk representing problems, the roots representing causes and branches representing the effects.
See example in Community profiling    
Process design
Activity of designing the process.
Process planning session
Event organised to allow people to determine the most appropriate process for their particular purposes.
Process planning session    
Project cycle management (PCM)
term given to the process of planning and managing projects, programmes and organisations. Widely used in the business sector and increasingly used by development organisations.
Public forum
Public meeting with an emphasis on debate and discussion rather than speeches and a question and answer session. Participants will normally sit in a circle or a horseshoe arrangement.
Forum     Public meeting    
Public meeting
Advertised, open access event at which issues are presented and commented on and at which decisions may be made. Term normally used to refer to fairly formal events with the audience sitting in rows facing a speaker or panel of speakers with a chairperson who controls the proceedings.
Public forum     Workshop    
Public wall
Area of wall space or display boards where members of the public can make their views known by putting up drawings or text and making comments on material already there.
People's wall    
Publicity
Raising awareness of a situation through use of posters, leaflets and so on.
Pump-priming
Investing in an activity or service to get something started.
Qualitative measurement
Where words are used to describe changes

Quantitative measurement
Where numbers are used to measure changes

Questionnaire survey
Survey which involves collection of information in the form of written responses to a standard set of questions. Often a starting point for participation processes. Frequently used with other methods.
Survey    
Rapporteur
French term often used even at English speaking events.
Reporter    
Reconnaissance trip
Direct inspection of area under consideration by mixed team of locals and technical experts.
Reconnaissance trip    
Referendum
Public vote on an issue of special importance. May be used for strategic planning issues (for instance in the Netherlands).
Regeneration
To bring new and more vigorous life to an area or institution; to be reborn; to grow; to improve an area’s social, physical and economic environment.
Regional spatial strategy
Document setting out how much development there should be, how it will be spread around the region and how it will be delivered. Covers a large area.
Regional/urban design assistance team (R/UDAT)
Name originally given to the planning weekend programme started by the American Institute of Architects in 1967. A generic R/UDAT uses the same process to look at problems common to many communities. A mini R/UDAT uses a similar process with a student team.
Design assistance team     Planning weekend    
Reinvigorate
Event usually lasting one day where ‘outsiders’ and ‘insiders’ undertake a workshop process to identify solutions to an area’s problems. Process developed by the British Urban Regeneration Agency (BURA) which spells it Re:Invigorate.
Reinvigorate    
Reporter
Person who reports to a plenary session on the outcome of a workshop.
Residents’ tool loan service
Service lending out tools and equipment to make it easier for residents to carry out building work on their environment.
Resource assessment
Identification of resources and capacities within a community.
Resource survey    
Resource centre
Place designed to provide community groups with the facilities they need to make the most of their energies and enthusiasm. No two centres are exactly alike but will provide some or all of the following: information, office equipment, professional advice and support, meeting facilities, equipment for meetings and fund raising, training courses and opportunities for groups to meet and share ideas.
see also
Neighbourhood planning office    
Resource survey
Survey to identify local resources which may be mobilised. Will include people, organisations, finance, equipment and so on.
Neighbourhood skills survey    
Retail impact assessment
Assessment of potential impact of proposed retail developments on existing retail centres.
Risk assessment
Examination of risks from disasters existing in any community. The basis for risk reduction. Comprises three components: Hazard analysis; vulnerability analysis; resource assessment.
Risk assessment    
Roadshow
Series of linked public workshops, exhibitions and public forums to explore the potential for improving the built environment and provide a catalyst for action.
Roadshow    
Role play
Adopting the role of others and acting out scenarios. Used to help people understand the views and aspirations of others.
Gaming    
Round table workshop
Workshop process for engaging the main stakeholders in generating a vision and strategy for an area. Often used for consensus building between previously antagonistic parties.
Participation Works!     URBED    
Rural rapid appraisal (RRA)
Similar approach in rural areas.
Participatory appraisal    
Scoping
Preliminary exploration of a subject or project.
Search conference
Conference or workshop for key interested parties organised as a first stage in a consultation process on a project. May include briefings, role play, reconnaissance, interactive displays, workshops and plenary sessions. Term much used in Australia. Similar to planning day or community planning forum.
Community Participation in Practice    
Seasonal calendar
Chart showing a community?s work and social activities month by month to highlight problems or concerns about such things as livelihood, health and community relations.
see also Community profiling
Community profiling    
Secondary co-operative
Organisation which provides services, such as technical aid, to a co-operative which is also owned and managed by that co-operative.
Co-operative     Housing co-operative    
Secondary data
Indirect information sources; files, reports, maps, photos, books and so on.
Secondary data review
Collection and analysis of published and unpublished material such as maps, reports, census statistics and newspaper clippings. Normally done prior to field work.
Self build
Construction (or repair) work physically undertaken directly by future (or present) occupiers on an individual or collective basis.
Self help
Where people take responsibility, individually or collectively, for solving their problems.
Self management
Where a facility is managed by the people who use it.
Self sufficiency
Reduction of dependence on others, making devolution of control easier and encouraging self-reliance.
Semi structured interview
Conversational open discussion with local inhabitants to understand their needs, problems and aspirations. Uses a checklist of questions as a flexible guide in contrast to a formal questionnaire. Different types include; individual, group, focus group, and key informant.
Interview    
Seminar
Meeting or workshop with educational slant.
Serendipity
Making happy discoveries by accident.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Arrangement between people providing a service and those receiving it setting out quantity and frequency of delivery.
Shared ownership housing
When an occupier buys a proportion of a home and rents the remainder, usually from a housing association. Way of making housing affordable.
Shared presentation
Presentation by a group or several individuals.
Shell housing
Construction system where only floors, walls, roofs and services are provided, leaving occupiers free to build their own interiors.
Shop front scheme.
Scheme for improving the street scene by grant aiding improvements to individual shop fronts.
Short-life housing
Use of empty property on a temporary basis, usually by a voluntary organization.
Silo
Inefficient departments with little or no planning and co-ordination between related programmes.
Simulation
Acting out an event or activity as a way of gaining information and insights prior to formulating plans.
Simulation    
Single regeneration budget (SRB)
Series of programmes to enhance the employment prospects, education and skills of local people and to tackle the needs of communities in deprived areas.
Site and services
Provision of a serviced site for self-builders. Usually by government, but increasingly also by the private sector.
Skills survey
Assessment of skills and talent. Often done in a neighbourhood to establish what the community can do for itself and what extra help is needed. Also known as a skills audit or skills inventory.
Neighbourhood skills survey    
Slide show
Presentation based on projecting images from transparencies. Widely used in workshops before the widespread use of Powerpoint as they could be prepared and presented by participants (more easily than video) and enable people to present visual information to groups (if the projector did not break down!).
Small group work
People working together in small groups of 8 - 15. Term used to cover a range of similar methods such as workshops and focus groups which enable people to discuss, evaluate, learn and plan together. Group work can be formal or informal, one-off or regular, topic related or wide-ranging.
Social architecture
Similar concept to community architecture. Term commonly used in the United States.
Community architecture    
Social audit
Tool to help an organisation understand, measure and report upon its social performance through the eyes of its stakeholders. Over time, the approach can be used to help an organisation improve its social performance.
Social capital
Ability of social structures and institutions to provide a supportive framework for individuals; includes firms, trade unions, families, communities, voluntary organisations, legal/political systems, educational institutions, health services, financial institutions and systems of property rights.
Human capital    
Social enterprise
Initiative that uses a commercial approach to fund social or community-based activities.
Social entrepreneur
Person who makes things happen by taking initiative in the interests of his or her community rather than for private or personal gain.
Social exclusion
Exclusion from accepted norms through unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown.
Social survey
Survey to find out about the nature of a community. May cover aspects like age, gender, wealth, health and so on.
Survey    
SpeakOut
Interactive event intensively staffed with facilitators and Recorders where participants drop in and visit a number of issue stalls set up with interpretative material about the community or the planning issues under consideration. Provides an informal environment where a wide range of people have a chance to participate. Encourages casual, ‘drop-in’ participation at people’s convenience. People find issues about which they wish to ‘speak out’ and have their say, with comments clearly recorded by a Recorder.  (Sarkissian 2009)
Open house event     SpeakOut    
Special interest group
Group championing a particular cause or interest. May be topic or geographically based. May be formally or informally constituted.
Special projects group
Non-statutory group formed to undertake a particular project.
User group    
Squatting
Unlawful occupation of land or housing.
Staffed exhibition
Exhibition where organisers are present to engage in discussion.
Interactive exhibition     Open house event    
Stakeholder
Person or organisation with an interest because they will be affected or may have some influence.
Stakeholder analysis
Gaining an understanding about who is affected by any proposal and therefore who should be involved in any participation process. Useful first step in most participation processes.
Stakeholder participation day
One-day event to involve key stakeholders. Often held at the start of a planning process. Sometimes called a consultation day.
Stakeholder participation day    
Statement of community involvement (SCI)
Document produced by local authorities to highlight how they intend to engage the community in their activity.
Steering group
Informal group set up to pursue a project or goal.
User group    
Stick
Metaphor for control. Handing over the stick is a much used term to mean the experts or facilitator handing over the chalk, pen or microphone to enable local people to become the analysts, planners and facilitators of their own situation.
Sticky wall
Rectangular sheet of parachute silk sprayed with repositional adhesive. Useful for workshops because notes can be moved around and do not require adhesive backing.
Storefront studio
Community design office located in a prominent shop, often temporarily for a community planning event or charrette. Term used in the USA.
Story-telling
Verbal recounting of tales which may be actual or mythical. Used to understand local values, standards, practices and relationships. Particularly valuable with children and people who are illiterate. Also the singing of local songs and reciting of poetry. Performance sets off discussion to explain local knowledge and beliefs.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Assessment of the effects of plans and programmes on the environment. Required for certain projects by European Directive 2001/42/EC. 
Environmental impact assessment     Strategic Environmental Assessment Information Service    
Strategic planning
Organised effort to produce decisions and actions that shape and guide what a community is, what it does, and why it does it.
Street party
Party for the whole community held in the street. Often organised to galvanise regeneration initiatives.
Street stall
Way of securing public comment on planning issues by setting up an interactive exhibition in a public street or square.
Street stall    
Street survey
Survey carried out by stopping people in a street or shopping centre. Used for securing views of people using a place (rather than necessarily living or working there).
Survey    
Study day
Day spent examining a particular issue. Similar to a planning day but less structured. Useful for simple issues.
Planning day    
Subsidiarity
Maximum local autonomy.
Suggestions box
Box in which people place their written suggestions or comments on a place or proposals. Useful device in consultation allowing participants to remain anonymous if they wish.
Super output area (SOA)
Smallest area for which UK government provides deprivation statistics.
Supports and infill
Concept of design, management and construction which aims to distinguish between individual and collective areas of responsibility. Developed at the Stichting Architecten Research in the Netherlands.
Survey
Systematic gathering of information.
Opinion survey     Questionnaire survey     Resource survey     Social survey     Street survey    
Sustainable community
Community that lives in harmony with its local environment and does not cause damage to distant environments or other communities ? now or in the future. Quality of life and the interest of future generations are valued above immediate material consumption and economic growth.
Sustainable development
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Report definition).
Sweat equity
Where an individual or community acquires an asset by expending labour rather than money.
SWOT analysis
Determination of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats relating to an organisation or activity.
Table group
Group of six to ten people at a workshop who work under the guidance of a Facilitator and are assisted by a Recorder. They usually work through a structured agenda and report back to all participants at plenary sessions. (Sarkissian 2009)
Table scheme display
Simple way of securing comment on design proposals by taping drawings on a table top and requesting people to vote with sticky dots.
Table scheme display    
Task Force
Multidisciplinary team of students and professionals who produce in-depth proposals for a site or neighbourhood based on an intensive programme of site studies, lectures, participatory exercises and studio working, normally lasting several weeks.
Task Force    
Team-building
Learning to work together as a group by getting to know each other and developing shared aims, values and working practices.
Technology of participation
A framework of practical methods that help facilitators working with groups. Term used by the Institute of Cultural Affairs. Includes Discussion method, Workshop method and Action Planning method.
Institute of Cultural Affairs.    
Temporal snapshot
Finding out how spaces are used at different times of day and night.
Tenant management organisation (TMO)
Organisation set up to allow housing tenants to participate in the management of their homes.
Think tank
Brainstorming group. Increasingly used by governments and city authorities. Often for experts only. May use a community planning event format. Sometimes called an expert panel or symposium.
Third wave
Revolution currently transforming society based on growth of high technology and information systems. The first wave was the agricultural revolution, the second the industrial revolution.
Time money
Alternative currency which credits the time people spend helping each other. Participants earn credit for doing jobs - an hour of your time entitles you to an hour of someone else's time. Credits are deposited centrally in a time bank and withdrawn when the participant needs help themselves.
New Economics Foundation    
Time use analysis
Assessment of time spent on various activities, on a daily or seasonal basis.
Timeline
Line calibrated to show a historical sequence of events or activities.
Diagrams     Historical profiling    
Top down
Term used to refer to initiatives led by the authorities as opposed to bottom up initiatives led by the community.
Topic workshop
Workshop session on a particular topic.
Workshop    
Town centre manager
Person employed to improve town centres by working with all interested parties and taking initiatives.
Town development trust
Organisation created by a local urban community to revitalise that community's physical surroundings.
Development trust    
Town team
Group of people who work within their community to identify and shape projects designed to improve it. Term used in Yorkshire, UK.
Upper Calder Valley Renaissance    
Town workshop
Workshop organised on the future of a town.
Trail
Carefully planned walk through an area designed to help people understand the problems and opportunities. Designed to be walked unaccompanied.
Reconnaissance trip    
Transect walk
Systematic walk along a pre-determined route through an area to gather information about such things as land-use, social and economic resources or the state of the environment. Usually done by community members with facilitators or technical experts. Information is subsequently recorded on maps and as text.
Reconnaissance trip    
Transition towns initiative
Project or initiative aimed at making the transition necessary for communities to be able to reduce climate change by reducing carbon emissions and counter the effects of the end of cheap oil.
Transition towns wiki    
Treasure hunt
Trail designed with the added incentive of prizes for the correct answers to questions about things seen on route. Useful warm up to a community planning event, generating interest and getting people to look closely at the physical nature of an area.
Trail    
Triple bottom line
Business activity that results in commercial profit as well as social and environmental benefits.
Trust
Term used in the name of an organisation, usually implying that it has charitable objectives. Also used to mean 'have confidence in'.
Urban aid
Government funding intended for community development in urban areas.
Urban design
Discipline concerned with three-dimensional built form and the ecology of streets, neighbourhoods and cities.
Urban design action team
Similar meaning as urban design assistance team. Term adopted by the Urban Design Group for its first UK community planning event in 1990 and used again since. (Note the American ‘Assistance’ has changed to ‘Action’.
Design assistance team    
Urban design game
Role-play game designed to help people to understand the planning process and the views of others by simulating future scenarios.
Gaming    
Urban design studio
Unit attached to an architecture or planning school which focuses on involving local communities in live project work.
Urban design studio    
Urban regeneration
Regeneration in an urban area.
Regeneration    
Urban regeneration company (URC)
Not-for-profit company which engages businesses in regeneration strategies to develop less prosperous areas.
Urban renaissance
Vision for widespread urban regeneration based on design excellence, community involvement and social well-being, with a viable economic framework.
Urban resource centre
Local or regional centre aiming to co-ordinate training in cross-professional skills and disseminate best practice and innovation in regeneration and community planning.
Urban studies centre
Centre of environmental education, usually focusing on the immediate surroundings.
Architecture centre     Environmental education    
Urban village
Term used to describe an urban area with an attractive mix of homes, shops, restaurants and employers.
User
Actual or future occupier of a building or neighbourhood or beneficiary of a service.
User-client    
User client
People who are the end-users of buildings and are treated as the client, even if they are not technically responsible for paying the bills.
User group
Group of actual or future occupiers of a building or neighbourhood or beneficiary of a service.
User group    
Venn diagram
Diagram using circles of different sizes to indicate roles of different organisations and the relationships between them. Used for analysing institutional and social networks.
Diagrams    
Vernacular architecture
Architecture of and by the people and rooted in a particular locality.
Video box
Use of video to help people express and communicate ideas and opinions. Used for presentation or as a discussion tool. Particularly useful for young people.
Video soapbox    
Video project
Where citizens film their neighbourhood and interview each other as part of a community planning initiative.
Video soapbox
Use of large screens in public locations to project people expressing ideas and opinions.
Video soapbox     Video box    
Village appraisals and audits
Surveys done by and for local people
Village design day
Day when people work intensively on developing ideas
for their village.
Planning day    
Village design statement
Local design statement produced by a village community.
Local design statement    
Vision
An image of how things might be in the future. May be in words or pictures. Provide useful guide for developing project and programme priorities. ‘Having vision’ implies being imaginative.
Visioning    
Vision fair
Event where people vote on their favourite visions. Vision
statements or images, usually from a previous workshop or brainstorm, are exhibited. People use sticky dots or other means to indicate which visions they would like to pursue. They may also make personal pledges to take action.
Choices method     Vision    
Visioning
Thinking about what the future could be and creating a vision.
Community visioning     Vision    
Visit
Trip by a group of people planning an initiative to a community that has recently undertaken a similar initiative, to learn from their experience. May be highly structured with formal notetaking, interviews and feedback sessions, or informal.
Visual simulation
Showing how buildings will look when constructed using photomontages.
Voluntary organisation
Not-for-profit, non-statutory and often charitable organisation.
Voluntary sector
Non-statutory organisations funded by grants, donations and sponsorship that provide goods and services to groups of people.
Vulnerability
Extent to which a community, structure or service is likely to be damaged or disrupted by a disaster.
Disaster    
Vulnerability analysis
Identification of what and who is vulnerable to disaster and the extent of that vulnerability.
Disaster    
Vulnerability and capacity analysis
Method based on a matrix chart for organising information about a
community’s vulnerability to, and capacity to withstand, the effects of extreme events such as natural disasters.
Walkabout
Direct inspection of area under consideration on foot
Reconnaissance trip    
Web site
Space on the Internet. Immense potential for providing sites with
information, discussion groups and interactive material on community planning projects.
Well-being ranking
Assessment of well-being of different households, usually
using pile-sorting technique. Also known as wealth ranking.
Community profiling    
Wheel of fortune
Graphic way for people to collectively prioritise up to 20 competing priorities.
Example in Prioritising     
Wish poem
Poem made up by combining wishes of participants at a workshop.
Working group
Small number of individuals with a specific task to complete.
Workshop
Meeting at which a small group, perhaps aided by a facilitator, explores issues, develops ideas and makes decisions. A less formal and more creative counterpart to a
public meeting or committee. A topic workshop focuses on
specific issues. A design workshop includes the use of participatory design techniques.
Briefing workshop     Design workshop     Public meeting     Seminar     Topic workshop    
Youth forum
Way for young people to meet to discuss issues that concern them in whatever way best suits them.
Youth Inclusion Programme (YIP)
Programme to reduce youth crime in specific neighbourhoods. Operates in 70 of the most deprived estates in England and Wales where it targets 13 to 16 year-olds engaged in crime or most at risk of offending, truancy or social exclusion.
Youth planning day
Day of activities designed specifically to involve young people in the planning process.
Planning day    
Zero-carbon home
Energy-efficient dwelling where the net carbon emissions from all energy uses over a year are zero. This includes energy use from cooking, washing and electronic entertainment appliances as well as space heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and hot water.
ZOPP
Acronym for the German expression “Zielorientierte
Projektplanung” or objectives oriented project planning. A planning methodology (a set of instruments and procedures) for addressing the planning function in the process of managing a development project through its life cycle. Form of logical framework analysis. Also known as Goal-Oriented Project Planning (GOPP).
Logical framework analysis     Goal-Oriented Project Planning (GOPP).