I think I speak for all my fellow planners that no plan ever created has ever had “enough” public participation. Inevitably, no matter how broad (or narrow) the planning outreach and engagement process, there will be someone or some groups who will not feel adequately consulted or included. I have been at the helm of planning processes and public forums where this sentiment has been publicly hurled, deservedly or not; surely, a terrible feeling. It often feels like a professional hazard of the job.

But knowing this, there are so many ways that planners around the world attempt to address the issue of inadequate public participation, not only to save oneself from public outcry but more importantly to ensure a collaborative plan that will more assuredly be implemented to meet constituents needs.

So we have a moment when two draft regional master plans have been released by two megacities of roughly the same size, on roughly the same day, with two completely different approaches to citizen feedback.

Bangalore (pop. ~10 million in 2017): Revised Master Plan for Bengaluru 2031 was released to the public on November 24, 2017 for a 60-day comment period. The sections of the plan are available online, however, the means of commenting are through a physical form that the potential commenter must download and mail back to the planning body, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). No official public consultations have been advertised by the BDA but several civic organizations have begun to help the public strategize on how to respond and comment effectively. This feedback strategy clearly puts the burden on the public to self-organize and respond in a way that will be “heard” by the planning authority.

London (pop. ~9 million in 2017): New London Plan was released to the public on November 29, 2017 for a 90-day comment period. In addition to sending comments by mail, the public has the ability to provide comments directly in the relevant section of the plan using smart-document technology and collate comments for future edits. On the day that the plan was released, the Planning section of the Office of the Mayor also announced 11 public consultation events between December 1 and February 5, 2018. By law, the comments received for the London Plan will be examined by an Independent Planning Inspector.

Surely, Bangalore and London are very different cities with different planning traditions and urban governance structures. I have no doubt that both processes will hear from constituents who say they were not informed of the plan. But the use of technology in London, which could easily have been adopted in Bangalore–India’s tech capital, and the convening of the public by the planning authority itself seems like a missed opportunity.

Planners everywhere can watch this master planning processes unfold and hopefully learn what they can do in their own cities.