Talking over the waterfront: A qualitative study of Waterfront Toronto’s public engagement practice

This is a qualitative study of Waterfront Toronto’s (WT) public consultation practice, a hallmark of its work leading the redevelopment of Toronto’s urban waterfront, since 2001. Motivated in part by the absence of similarly focused studies on one of the longest and most sustained public engagement efforts by a public agency in Canada. Data was gathered by interviewing a purposive sample of key informants all of whom participants in, or close observers of WT’s public engagement practice. This is an appreciative though not uncritical ‘insider’ study, one that accepts its adjacency to the research topic. The key informants offered their views on what worked, what was missed and could be improved in the conduct of WT’s public consultation practice. The predominant view being that WT has set the gold standard for public consultation and could serve as model for public agencies to emulate. The key caveat to this positive finding was the issue of adequate inclusion: a question of who is or is not ‘in the room’. It is recommended that deficits of inclusion by remedied by proactive meliorative approach to enhancing outreach, while recognizing the limits of consultation, which is seen as a supplement to, not a replacement for representative democracy.

Author dc:creator

• Nixon, Edward

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Remillard, Chasten

• School of communication and culture

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-19330

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/27676