Drawing on the theory of Jürgen Habermas in particular, Healey's work focuses on the impact that communicative acts (which can be in spoken or written form) have on a community planning process.
They often act as a ‘knowledge mediator and broker’[1] to help reframe problems in order to promote more creative thinking about possible solutions.
[13] By considering this broad range of information, commonalities between different stakeholders may be identified, which can help build consensus.
[14] To combat the dwindling standard of living within Minneapolis neighbourhoods, the NRP was conceptualized as a means of involving citizens in the prioritization of revitalization efforts.
[16] Despite the creation of Participation Agreements which stood as formal commitments to holding an inclusive engagement process, the NRP has been criticized for a lack of representation from all neighbourhood members.
[16] While the NRP has been applauded for its communicative and collaborative values, critics point to cases of exclusion and the enormous amount of continuous time and energy required for its success as main drawbacks.
[17] Initially, each participating neighbourhood was given 10,000 dollars to begin a communicative engagement process and identify a vision for their local community.
[18] Additional funding for the planning stage would not be rewarded until the City felt as though enough stakeholders and community representatives had been included in the process.
[19] Once the visioning process was deemed to be inclusive and rigorous, the city provided each neighbourhood with between 60,000-100,000 dollars to develop a plan.
[19] Each plan varied significantly as each neighbourhood was afforded the opportunity to hire their own planner or consultants to assist them in the process.
[17] The program has been recognized as a successful example of communicative planning and collaborative governance due to the high level of participation and the frequency with which consensus was genuinely reached.
[21] Newer critiques argue collaborative planning is a way to maintain larger political and institutional systems while creating a process that only seems to better represent the public.