‘Emotion in middle’. Understanding the role of emotions in citizen participation processes

During citizen participation processes around urban development projects, citizens are invited to become engaged in the urban design process. These are usually citizens who live, dwell and sometimes work in the neighborhoods under reconstruction. Citizen participation processes in these cases are based on the premise that citizens who celebrate experiences of everyday life in the neighborhood could inform urban designs in a way that professional planners cannot. There is a positive expectation of role of emotions in this premise: it contains the idea that citizens have emotional connections to local places and people, emotional experiences in these places and with these people, and everyday routines that sustain these bonds. Emotions are thus central to the goal of citizen participation. In practice, however, professional planners handle emotions as obstacles for finalizing plans and making them financially viable. Emotions are standing in ‘the middle’ between being celebrated as well as repressed, circumvented, misunderstood, or even handled with disrespect. Understanding the role of emotions in citizen participation processes is increasingly important in the Netherlands, where a new Environmental Law (Omgevingswet) requires any spatial development project to engage local stakeholders in decision-making. If policy or planning professionals do not have the tools to include emotions and engage in alternative expressions of citizenship, these processes are deemed to fail. Leaving citizens angry and frustrated in ways that increases the already growing gap between citizens and the state. I foresee at least two dimensions in which emotions play a role in the escalation from participation to conflict. First, in the various ways knowledge is understood and recognized. Although many citizens can eloquently explain their routines and preferences in languages that are recognizable and familiar to urban planners, emotional memories seem to be more difficult for urban planners to consider and translate into tangible plans. Second, in the way emotions shape the quality of the interactions between citizens and professionals who are responsible for organizing and managing meetings. When citizens express in ways that are deemed ‘emotional’ the conversation tends to turn contentious. Citizens who express too much anger, for example, are framed as NIMBY’s (Not in My Backyard). Citizens who are dwelling too much on their personal experiences are deemed too romantic to take seriously. In turn, professionals who refrain from showing their own emotions are casted aside as ‘cold’ and ‘bureaucratic’ and loose the trust of citizens. In this paper I will use an ethnographic case study analysis to unravel the different roles emotions play in the contentious dynamics of citizen participation processes.