Abstract
The research undertaken for this thesis uses a technique known as coorientation to measure the contrasting interpretations of the inner city environment (in Guildford, Surrey) by members and non-members of the Friary Ward Residents' Association (FWRA), Guildford Borough councillors and officers. A coorientation model allows one to move beyond the simple comparison of environmental perceptions to understand the social process in which environmental cognitions and perceptions are formed. Three data collection techniques are used: an interview survey carried out amongst one hundred and eighty-five residents, councillors and officers in 1975-76; action research in the form of membership of the FWRA committee between 1976 and 1979; and a desk-top examination of Council and consultants' planning reports. Detailed attention is given to the social, economic, physical and political context of planning, including a critical analysis of some of the important sources of political and economic influence on the Council, and the major policy orientations which are instrumental in determining the Council's relations with participatory groups. This informs the three major research questions. Do inner city residents, councillors and officers live in conflicting social worlds which touch but rarely interpenetrate each other? If each of these urban groups constructs different interpretations of the environment, what participatory means are available to these groups to communicate their different views of the world? Finally, how successful is FWRA in achieving its aim of neighbourhood improvements through participatory activity in a political context which seeks to control, through various urban management strategies, the extension of participatory practises and ideals?