Public participation and the environment: Do we know what works?

This literature review of studies on public meetings, workshops, and commun ity advisory committees discusses public participation based on empirical e vidence. Public participation "success" is defined by researchers' criteria that are divided into two categories: (1) those that evaluate the success of the participatory process and (2) those that evaluate the success of the outcome of the process. We find the form of participation-public meetings, workshops, or citizen advisory committees-does not determine process or ou tcome success. Therefore, attempts to develop a typology of public particip ation efforts may be problematic. However, we find some empirical support f or practitioners' other widely accepted "rules of thumb".