Regional Planning in Alberta: Examining a Collaborative Planning Process in the South Saskatchewan Region – http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca
Challenges of regional planning can be mitigated with effective and thoughtful collaboration between all levels of stakeholders.
A regional planning approach risks losing autonomy of local governing bodies in favour of mandates from regional governments. Planning on the regional scale can be challenging due to:
- Different interests between geographic regions or types of regions (such and urban and rural interests)
- Securing long-term political commitment to creating and upholding regional plans
- Implementing the plans
Deliberate collaboration with local and regional stakeholders ensures that various interests are understood and prioritized when following a regional plan.
A successful approach to collaborative planning was outlined in a 2012 research paper. The researcher, Madeleine Baldwin from McGill University, reviewed the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan because it was new and noteworthy, in both Alberta and Canada.
Effective collaborative planning
With an increasing number of policies and stakeholders to consider, planning is becoming more complex. Public participation risks slowing down the planning process, but it is a benefit for two reasons:
- The public has the right to participate in decisions that might affect them
- Considers local knowledge
Here are some tips to improve collaborative planning:
- Define geographic regions: Isolate the region that is most impacted by a decision and then define the primary stakeholders.
- Define and explain the process: Every stakeholder should understand the planning process and what is required of them to provide effective input.
- Allocate sufficient resources: Planners and stakeholder groups require sufficient time, money and resources to prepare and implement plans. Rushing the process will reduce opportunities for input and risk leaving stakeholders feeling left out.
- Incorporate scientific and local knowledge: Always explain where information and data is coming from.
- Analyze the information as a group: Planners, stakeholders and government representatives should review and analyze the information together as a network. This approach will require additional resources and time to ensure everybody can understand and provide input on the information.
Review of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan preparation process
Through interviews and literature reviews, the researcher explored the challenges of collaboration in the creation of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan. Here are some challenges identified:
- Underrepresentation by First Nations
- Lack of representation by environmental non-governmental organizations
- Representatives from the environmental sector had fewer resources (political and financial) compared to industry groups
- Consensus is important but can be difficult to always reach
Identifying challenges and pursuing improved collaboration will continue to improve Alberta’s regional planning process and ease the difficulty of implementation.
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