Development, Public Participation, and Cultural War
Aiming for emancipating humans from inequality and poverty, the concept of development has evolved to better define criteria for a higher quality of life in larger populations. Development scholars and practitioners consider people's democratic participation in decision-making as a vital element in supporting equality and sustainability of projects. Nonetheless, in practice, due to imbalances in power relations, stratifications in community and different perceived benefits by stakeholders based on their cultural differences, participatory approaches are often deficient in achieving inclusivity and/or cohesion. After the presidential election in 2016 and the widening and deepening of the cultural gaps ("wars") between different social groups, finding democratic approaches to negotiate meanings and addressing discriminatory behaviors is vital for sustaining both justice and economic productivity in the United States. Through case-study research, this paper investigates how Community Cultural Development (CCD) approaches, as an increasingly growing community-building strategy, can influence collaborative and inclusive processes in communities where social disparity hinders decision making and implementation of development projects.