This title was first published in 2003. Until recently, planning and development in the Caribbean have been "top-down", "centre-out" and "expert-led". For a few years now, though, the region has bowed to the global trend and has experimented with participatory planning methods. Participatory planning is heralded by much of the development community as the most appropriate alternative strategy to the traditional approaches. In this volume, a range of experts drawn from the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and the United States review the current achievements and future prospects for genuinely participative planning in the Caribbean region at the beginning of the 21st Century.

Bringing together a wide range of case studies from both the insular Caribbean as well as mainland Central and South America, the book examines issues such as protected area planning, sustainable development councils, gender and development, inner-city redevelopment and community empowerment.