Democratizing design: possibilities for Detroit’s community benefits ordinance

The scholarship on participatory design has indicated continued struggles to develop processes that genuinely include citizen feedback in an inclusive manner. This paper explores whether Detroit’s Community Benefits Ordinance, that has allowed for residents to negotiate community benefits like parks, public spaces and streetscape improvements is a possible avenue for improved participatory design. This research shows that the Ordinance allowed for citizens to negotiate benefits related to the built environment, accounting for about one third of benefits won. However, there are significant barriers towards the Ordinance providing a transparent, non-elitist, and non-tokenistic environment for citizen participation in urban design.