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Social Capital, Sustainability and Environmental Planning

Environmental planning and the pursuit of local sustainable development increasingly rely on the active participation of affected communities. Typical examples include public participation in development plans, consensus-building in contested environmental situations, and the design of local facilities by resident populations. It is argued here that successful approaches to local participation are underlain by stocks of ‘social capital’, that is, the organizations, structures and relationships built up between individuals within communities. Where stocks of social capital are buoyant and high levels of trust exist between individuals, favourable conditions exist for co-operation and participation in the pursuit of local sustainability. Many claims have been made about the ways in which participatory processes can help to build up the potential for achieving consensus and stimulating active environmental citizenship. This study examines local initiatives in which communities have been enrolled into sustainability projects and strategies, and raises questions about their contribution to the growth of social capital. The article speculates that sustainability planning may assist community development in a number of ways, but that extravagant claims for participatory approaches must be tempered in the light of experience.