THE USE OF PARTICIPATIVE MECHANISMS BY LARGE UNITED-STATES CITIES

This paper presents an empirical examination of the mechanisms by which cities attempt to increase citizen participation in municipal government. The incidence of four types of citizen mechanisms, open government, information gathering, neighborhood environment, and coproduction, is assessed in US cities of population greater than 100,000. Patterns of citizen participation are probed and an overall ranking of cities in terms of the participative environment they foster is developed. The existence of a participative environment is found to be associated with city efforts to attract or retain middle class residents. The theoretical meaning of this relation is explored,