Language, participation and inclusivity in the urban planning process in Mzuzu City

TL;DR

This study investigates how language barriers in urban planning processes in Mzuzu City hinder inclusive participation and democratic decision-making, highlighting the need for language simplification and translation to improve community engagement.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for inclusive urban planning participation that addresses language barriers, enhancing democracy and community involvement in decision-making.

Findings

Participation is high at community levels but limited at city level due to language barriers.

Planners' reluctance to translate jargon reduces inclusiveness and legitimacy.

Language barriers compromise the democratic nature of urban planning decisions.

Abstract

Participation in urban planning is championed for entrenching democracy and development. Malawi passed the Local Government Act (1998) and Decentralization Policy (1998) to facilitate community participation in decision-making processes. Several studies have been conducted on decentralization and local governance on community participation. Little attention has been paid to examining the impact of the language used in planning processes on democracy and inclusivity envisaged in the law and policy. Using communicative action theory, the study examined challenges posed by language used in planning processes on inclusivity in the approval processes of urban plans. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and document review and analyzed using thematic and discourse analysis. The findings show that while there is high participation at community planning levels, because planners communicate using local languages, participation is compromised in the service committees at city level where final planning decisions are made due to language barrier. Specifically, lack of sincerity, truthfulness, comprehensibility and therefore legitimacy are apparent. Planners are reluctant to simplify written language and translate planning jargon into local languages for councillors to understand. The study concludes that community participation in the urban planning process in Mzuzu fails to entrench democracy due to lack of inclusiveness owing to the language barrier at city level where final planning decisions are made. The study proposes a framework for inclusive participation in urban planning including the motivation, conditions for effective participation and outcomes of participation.