Through my work, I aim to contribute to theories
and practices of participatory planning and participatory democracy.
In other words, to enable people to shape the decisions that affect
their lives. I approach this work in several ways: as a researcher
and writer, an educator and facilitator,
an urban planner, and an organizer
and consultant. See below for more details.
Research
and Writing
Most of my research and writing has focused on participatory budgeting
and planning, community councils, social forums, and democratic
learning in the US, Canada, UK, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela.
My first (and continuing) research project was on participatory
budgeting experiences in Canada. In 2005 I worked with the organization
Educating
Cities and Daniel
Schugurensky on a study of democratic learning and participatory
democracy in Rosario, Argentina. In 2006 I went to Venezuela to
research communal councils, an emerging national experiment in participatory
democracy. For my dissertation, I am studying how games and game
mechanics can be used to make public participation processes more
democratic and appealing. In other words, how to make democracy
fun.
To support these academic pursuits, I joined forces with several
co-conspirators to establish a network of activist grad students
in NYC, called Gradicals.
As an activist scholar, I try to write in an accessible style and
engage with discussions inside and outside of academia. I have written
for several non-academic magazines and blogged for the progressive
US policy blog Foresight,
the Center for Community Change's Movement
Vision Lab, and ParticipatoryBudgeting.org.
"Participatory Budgeting in North
America: The Case of Guelph, Canada," (with Elizabeth Pinnington
and Daniel Schugurensky) Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting
and Financial Management, forthcoming.
"Money Talks: How Participatory Budgeting Can Transform Politics,"
Grassroots Economic Organizing, 2(1), Summer 2008.
"Lessons
from Venezuela's Constitutional Referendum", Z Magazine,
21(1), January 2008.
"Could Participatory Budgeting Work in the United States?,"
(with Gianpaolo Baiocchi) The Good Society, 16(1),
2007.
"La Dimensión Educativa
de la Democracia Local: El Caso del Presupuesto Participativo,"
(with Daniel Schugurensky) Revista Temas y Debates,
13, 2007.
"Participatory Budgeting: A New Tool for Democratic Decision
Making," (with Jez Hall) Transformation
Journal, no. 5, Spring 2007. (article on participatory
budgeting in the UK) [PDF
version]
"Una Nación de Democracia Participativa?
Los Consejos Comunales y el Sistema Nacional de Planificación en
Venezuela", (with Juan Carlos Rodríguez) Revista
SIC, 693, April 2007. [PDF
version]
"Communal
Councils in Venezuela: Can 200 families revolutionize democracy?",
Z Magazine, 20(3), March 2007. [PDF
version]
"Who Learns What in Participatory Democracy? Participatory
Budgeting in Rosario, Argentina", (with Daniel Schugurensky)
in Ruud van der Veen, Danny Wildemeersch, Janet Youngblood and Victoria
Marsick (eds.), Democratic Practices as Learning Opportunities,
Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2007. [PDF
of earlier version of chapter, presented in 2005]
"Let
the People Decide: Transformative Community Development through
Participatory Budgeting in Canada," Shelterforce,
146, Summer 2006. [PDF
version]
"Participatory
Budgeting in Canada: Democratic Innovations in Strategic Spaces",
(with Estair Van Wagner) The Transnational Institute, 2006. (to
be included in the forthcoming book Progressive Cities) [PDF
version]
"Why
the World Social Forum Needs to Be Less Like Neoliberalism",
Toward
Freedom, January 16, 2006. [PDF
version]
"Planning
Open Space: The World Social Forum and Neoliberalism",
Progressive Planning, 163, Spring 2005.
"Up, Down,
Inside, Outside: (New) Directions for Progressive Planning in the
U.S.", Progressive Planning, 162, Winter 2005.
"Building
a Democratic City: How Participatory Budgeting Can Work in Toronto",
City of Toronto, Community Engagement Unit, 2004.
"Beyond
Civil Society: Public Engagement Alternatives for Canadian Trade
Policy", Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy,
2003.
"Playing with Power: Empowered Political
Games in Participatory Democratic Processes," The American
Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, April 16,
2008.
"Democratizing
Democracy through Participatory Budgeting," The North
American New Humanist Forum, New York City, November 17,
2007.
"Participatory Budgeting in Canada and Around the World,"
Participatory Budgeting Workshop for the City of Kitchener, Ontario
(Canada), June 13, 2007.
"Communal
Councils in Venezuela: Nationalizing Participatory Planning,"
Planners
Network 2007 Conference Race,
Class and Community Recovery: From the Neighborhood to the Nation
and Beyond, New Orleans, June 2, 2007.
"Presupuestos
Participativos: Una Herramienta para la Gestión Democrática,"
The conference El IVU y el Desarrollo Municipal:1era Conferencia
sobre las Oportunidades que brinda el IVU, Sociedad Puertorriqueña
de Planificación (Puerto Rican Planning Society), San Juan, Puerto
Rico, May 24, 2007.
"Presupuestos Participativos en Norteamérica: Extensiones horizontales
y submunicipales," International
Conference on Participatory Budgeting, Málaga, Spain, March
30, 2007. [español] [english]
"Communal Councils in Venezuela," The
Left Forum, New York City, March 10, 2007.
"Co-ops and Participatory
Democracy," 2nd
National Conference of Democratic Workplaces, New York City,
October 13, 2006.
"Communal
Councils in Venezuela: Participatory Democracy at the National Level?",
Local
Democracy Convention, Madison, Wisconsin, October 1, 2006.
"Participatory
Budgeting with Youth," Planners
Network conference Tending
the Garden: From Grassroots to Green Roofs, Chicago, June
10, 2006.
"Who
Learns What in Participatory Democracy?" The Canadian Society
for the Study of Education conference at the Congress
of the Humanities and Social Sciences, York University,
Toronto, May 30, 2006.
"Participatory Budgeting in North America," The
Left Forum, New York City, March 11, 2006.
With Daniel Schugurensky, "Learning
citizenship and democracy through participatory budgeting: The case
of Rosario, Argentina", Democratic
Practices as Learning Opportunities: Comparing International Experiences
& Understandings, Teachers College/Columbia University,
New York City, November 4th, 2005. [powerpoint
presentation] [PDF
of paper presented]
"Participatory
Budgeting in Canada", The Alternatives
forum From
Local Action to Global Citizenship, Montreal, September
10, 2005.
"Aprendiendo
ciudadanía y democracia a través del presupuesto participativo:
El caso de Rosario", Participatory Budgeting Workshop at
the Municipality of Rosario, Argentina, August 11, 2005.
Popular Education
and Facilitation
Before I even knew what popular
education was, I began using it to facilitate English language
classes with community development organizations in Slovakia. As an
ESL instructor, I have also taught more traditional English classes
for groups and individuals at Berlitz
International Language School in Kosice, Slovakia, and Masters
Idiomas in Rosario, Argentina. As a teaching assistant at the
Univerity of Toronto and The New School, I have designed curricula
and led seminars and walking tours, for classes on urban planning,
globalization, and social change. Since 2006, I have been working
as a part-time instructor at the Brooklyn
Center for the Urban Environment (BCUE), teaching interactive
classes on urban planning and urban studies for elementary, middle
and high school students. Over the years, I have facilitated over
two dozen participatory workshops, strategic planning meetings, and
annual general meetings for various organizations.
Urban Planning
My urban planning experience began with two years of community development
and environmental planning work with the NGO ETP
Slovakia, most of it involving rather destitute Romany communities
in Eastern Slovakia. After leaving Slovakia, I completed a Masters
in Planning from the University of Toronto. I have worked with Project
for Public Spaces in New York and Planning
Action in Toronto, preparing resources and workshops on participatory
planning. More recently, I have been focusing on youth participation
in planning, through work with BCUE and the Young
Planners Network.
Organizing
and Consulting
Much of my time is occupied by the
often unglamorous tasks of organizing, networking, and consulting.
As a steering committee member of Planners
Network since 2003, I have worked to build an international network
of progressive students, faculty, planners, and activists involved
in urban and rural planning. This has mainly involved giving public
talks, preparing publications, coordinating interns and a small grants
program, and advising local chapters and planning organizations. Locally,
I have been trying to resuscitate the New
York City chapter of Planners Network.
I also organize and consult on participatory budgeting in the US and
internationally. In 2005, I established an international participatory
budgeting network, which I now coordinate through the online resource
center ParticipatoryBudgeting.org.
After organizing a couple of popular sessions at the US Social Forum,
several colleagues and I launched a US
Participatory Budgeting Network, to promote and support participatory
budgeting in the US. This networking has led me to advise several
cities and organizations on implementing participatory budgeting processes.
In addition, I have worked directly on participatory budgeting campaigns
in Toronto and New York.
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