A Methodology for Participatory Local Environmental Planning

Many of the current procedures and tools of urban and environmental planning may need to be revised and developed at a local level to achieve more sustainable cities and neighborhoods.Furthermore, since the activities of a community would have direct impacts on the environment, many views of planning recognize that good plans spring from the local community. But how can communities be planned and developed that will meet both human and environmental needs?"Local Environmental Plans" are starting to be known as one of the most utilized tools to explore such needs. But it should be recognized that people intervention does not just happen. The most active participation in planning is found in those communities where involvement is planned and managed accurately.In addition, a plan will never achieve its goals unless it can be implemented. This reveals another significant barrier to achieve sustainable cities, which is the absence of a clear articulated method of implementation.Therefore, in this research an attempt has been made to develop a relatively inclusive methodology to produce and implement "participatory local environmental plans". It has been achieved by analyzing and comparing some case studies of such experiments in other countries.The main and first basis of this methodology is to establish an independent and empowered local organization consisting of any local interest groups, for every small city or neighborhood which is going to be changed. Then, all the steps of producing and implementing participatory plans will go through that organization, its structure and members.