Remaking Participation ― Science, Environment and Emergent Publics

The focus of this book is public participation in the governance of science and technology, particularly pertaining to environment and sustainability issues. The past three decades have seen a dramatic rise in diverse forms of participation throughout western democracies, but this book represents the first major attempt to consolidate the research field of critical public engagement studies and practice, working at the interface between science and technology studies (STS), geography, environmental science, and political and democratic theory. Bringing together leading scholars writing on science and society today, the book moves beyond the focus that has dominated the public participation field to date around developing methods and democratic engagement. In doing so, the authors shift the spotlight to participation as an object of study in itself, paying close attention to its social construction, performance, expertise, power and discourse. The book addresses the following key questions:

• What does ‘critical’ public engagement mean in terms of research and practice?
• What is the nature of public participation expertise and how do technologies of participation get produced, mobilised, and with what effects?
• How is public engagement framed, controlled and governed and how does it construct ‘the public’, public issues, and visions of democracy?
• What mediates institutional learning and reflexivity in relation to participation and the public?
• What are the prospects for building more deliberately reflexive, adaptive and responsible forms of participatory governance of science and technology?

In addition to theoretical and conceptual developments, the authors advance empirical understandings relating to these questions through case studies across the domains of emerging technologies (such as nanotechnology and synthetic biology), sustainable energy, and natural hazards. Whilst mapping out critical social science research directions, the book does this in a way that is constructively critical through exploring implications for practices, policies, and institutions of public engagement. Participation, Science and the Environment is essential reading for researchers and students of STS, geography, environmental studies and related disciplines, as well as practitioners faced with the challenges of engaging others in, or gaining access to, contemporary science and innovation processes.

Jason Chilvers is a lecturer at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK

Matthew Kearnes is a lecturer at University of New South Wales, Australia