Collaborative Planning

Collaborative planning is a process of engaging stakeholders in face-to-face dialogue to develop a plan that meets the interests of all affected parties. Collaborative planning involves negotiation among affected parties to achieve a consensus decision and often relies on an independent mediator or facilitator to assist in negotiations.

Collaborative planning is a relatively recent approach to planning that emerged in response to growing dissatisfaction with more traditional, expert-based planning models. The theory underlying collaborative planning is that planning is a value-based process that attempts to achieve diverse goals and tradeoffs that cannot be properly assessed by experts or scientific analysis. Diverse goals and tradeoffs can only be incorporated into plans by delegating responsibility for plan development and approval directly to stakeholders. Stakeholders include any groups or individuals affected by the plan.

Collaborative planning is a logical extension of recent trends in planning theory and practice. Beginning in the 1960s, the dominant model of technocratic planning, which relied on expert-based, scientific decision making, was increasingly under attack for its failure to adequately consider the interests of different stakeholders. The need for increased public involvement in setting goals and objectives for planning became well accepted. Public involvement in planning was extended beyond goal formulation by new models, such as advocacy planning and mediation planning, which stressed the need for public participation in the actual development and approval of plans, as well as in development of planning goals. Collaborative planning further extends these more participatory models by positing the need for a proactive initiative to delegate control of all aspects of the planning process to stakeholders who are formally organized around a “planning table” to prepare plans.

Advocates suggest that collaborative planning has several advantages over other planning models. First, collaborative planning will produce a plan that is more likely to be in the public interest because it attempts to meet the diverse goals and objectives of all stakeholders by relying on consensus agreement and consideration of more creative options developed through interactive dialogue. The inclusion of scientific experts as stakeholders can ensure that decisions are based on sound information. Collaborative planning is also more likely to lead to effective implementation because stakeholders actively support implementation [Page 107]of a plan that they developed and that has benefits for all interests. Collaborative planning also creates additional benefits, including improved knowledge and skills of participants and improved stakeholder relationships. These additional benefits, sometimes referred to as social capital, can generate important gains to society, such as reduction in conflict and improved public decision making.

Collaborative planning is emerging as the preferred model of planning in both theory and practice. Collaborative planning is increasingly used in jurisdictions in North America, Europe, and Australia by agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and many other state and local planning agencies. The most comprehensive application of collaborative planning to date has been in British Columbia, Canada, where collaborative planning was used commencing in 1992 to develop land and resource management plans for the entire provincial land base. Despite intense differences among stakeholders, over three-fourths of the plans in British Columbia were approved by consensus agreement among all stakeholders.

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