Evolution and current challenges of public participation in land-use planning: A case study of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM)
During the last 15 years, the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) has organized over 20 upstream and downstream exercises for detailed planning projects, like special urban planning programs (PPU) or urban, economic and social development planning programs (PDUES). This kind of consultation led to many groundbreaking initiatives to engage in public action and debate. This article assesses the OCPM’s practices related to civic engagement in land-use planning, and presents the lessons learned about the evolution of public participation methods, as well as its effect on the projects. As we are facing an outbreak in numeric involvement methods, the authors wanted to highlight the OCPM’s experimentations which stimulate participation, and evaluate the evolution of public participation since the methods came into use.