Facilitation and/or Manipulation? Lawrence Halprin and 'Taking Part'

After witnessing public attempts at thwarting redevelopment projects dictated by government and big business, Lawrence Halprin and Associates formulated the Take Part Process in 1970 to stimulate citizen participation in environmental design. Though Halprin sought federal support to institutionalize "Taking Part," its development emerged from 1960s anti-establishment culture and was significantly impacted by the work of his wife in avant-garde dance and choreography. Despite claims that the process was open-ended, however, Halprin and his firm clearly had preconceived objectives. Using the application of "Taking Part" in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, this paper assesses the unresolved ambiguity between facilitation and manipulation latent in the process, as well as what might be learned from this tension between facilitation and manipulation in public process planning today.