Public participation and ‘good’ urban governance

In the 21st century, with the development of globalization and urbanization in the whole world, and the economic and social advancement, the managing structure and methods of the urban governance are changing rapidly. This situation shows that the good urban governance is facing a wide variety of challenges and issues to serve the contemporary cities.   Among those numerous challenges and issues, public participation is a key factor that should be well considered if the urban governance wants to be a good one in the future. The reason for this statement is that almost all of the decisions, policies and regulations made by the urban governance are relevant to the daily life of people living in the city. On the other side, good urban governance should connect well with all the relevant people, organizations, government sections, and consider all advices and needs of them to make sure that the policies could serve public in the maximum range. That means the residents in the city are the majority service object of the urban governance, and providing the needs of the public can help the urban governance turn to a positive image to the residents. Under that situation, public participation offers the chance for urban governance to make correct and satisfied decisions for the residents, and it is being accepted that public participation takes a vitally important position in a good urban governance in the contemporary ages. In this essay, the importance of public participation in urban governance will be exhibited in detail firstly, and then discuss the problems of public participation and increase engagement of public participation in urban governance. To compare with the bad governance, the redevelopment process of Liede village could be used as an example to discuss the benefits of the good urban governance with high-level public participation in China. Finally, the conclusion would be given out at the end of the essay