Principles of culturally competent planning and placemaking

Cultural competency defined

Cultural competency is a set of knowledge and skills to help individuals engage more effectively in culturally diverse environments.  Culture has many definitions, but in the realm of social sciences, it usually refers to a shared set of beliefs of behaviors exhibited by a distinctive group.  (Schein, 1992; Rice, 2008)  Culture is manifested in many ways, including through language and non-verbal communication, customs, religious exercise,  and bodies of knowledge passed on by mentors and teachers.  Objects, symbols and other elements of the physical environment reflect cultural values.  The red brick (or stamped red concrete) sidewalks in the suburbs of New York are not simply design features.  They are meant to evoke a romanticized image of what many residents might consider a simpler and more orderly period in American history.

Culture also serves as a touchstone to help individuals connect themselves to the larger world.  When someone introduces him or herself as “I’m a ___________,” that person is connecting to a group that has a distinct cultural identity.  This aspect of culture is particularly important to community-level urban design, in which physical elements of a place are either destroyed or preserved.

When cultures intersect in groups, organizations, or societies, there are dominant and subordinate cultures.  Dominant cultures tend to have the greatest array of political, financial, or other capital.  One of the privileges of dominance is to establish the frame of reference for the collective. Their cultural view becomes the “correct” view while diverging perspectives of subordinate cultures are seen as odd or deviant.  Typically, members of the dominant culture are unaware of their biases.  When that happens, they become less culturally competent.

This helps explain why multiple cultures persist, even as societies work to become more inclusive.  For people who feel disenfranchised, their group identity provides a source of validation and empowerment.  Where a society or organization imposes restrictions on individuals, culture provides an opportunity for individuals to reach their higher level psychological needs – personal growth, self-actualization (being ‘all that you can be’) and transcendence (helping others meet their higher level needs). (Huitt, 2004)  Historically, churches in African-American communities provided such opportunities.  A man who because of racism could not reach his personal or professional goals in the larger, White dominated society, could become a deacon or other position or prestige within the church.  It is not surprising, that Fox News, known for its conservative and libertarian commentators, saw ratings jump in the first few weeks after Barack Obama became the United States President. (Shea, 2009) 

The White (Non-Hispanic) American urban planner who says “If they don’t show up at the charrette, they don’t care”1 epitomizes this lack of cultural competence.  The planner bases his judgment on his own frame of reference:  If you care about your place, you participate in civic life.  The planner had not considered that some stakeholders may feel intimidated or uncomfortable expressing themselves among design professionals. 

Because all people have multiple cultural characteristics that impact the way they experience and view the world, all groups have some amount of cultural diversity.  Typically, discussions on cultural competency focus on engagement with individuals of different genders, races, ethnicities and sexual orientation.  Less discussed, but equally important, are differences among professional and sectoral cultures – such those between a public sector urban planner and a private sector civil engineer. 

Cultures are dynamic.  Individuals are challenged to rethink their beliefs and behaviors in light of changes in the environment and within themselves, especially as they work to integrate their multiple identities.  So, like defining the waves in river, it is impossible to accurately know every culture.  

“It would be naïve to think that one could know the world from someone else’s shoes,” Umemoto says (2005: 187)  Nor is it realistic to think that one could become conversant in an unlimited number of cultural paradigms.  It is not unrealistic, however, to create the foundation for social learning that emphasizes multiple epistemologies2 within planning processes.”

Cultural competency focuses on three dimensions: awareness, beliefs and behaviors

Awareness is the ability to recognize and understand the reasons for the actions of individuals from one’s own and others’ cultures. Awareness elements include:                      

•  Self-awareness.  Specifically, the individual recognizes that his or her own perceptions and ability to get new information are limited by his or her own experiences and prejudices.  Individuals who are self-aware have a better understanding of how the world sees them, and how they in turn see the world.  
  
  
•  Awareness of others’ cultural beliefs and behaviors.  This also includes an awareness of the social, economic and other environmental factors that maintain or change cultural beliefs and behaviors. 
  
  
•  Awareness of power relationships among dominant and subordinate cultures, and how they manifest themselves in beliefs, behaviors, and the physical elements of a society.
  
  
•  Awareness that individuals are both distinct and have multiple cultural identities.  Every individual is a member of multiple groups – gender, race, ethnicity and profession.  The experience of having multiple identities, as well as innate characteristics – such as physical strength and intelligence – causes individuals to have beliefs and engage in behaviors that depart from the stereotype of a particular culture.
  
  
•  Awareness that because of the complexities and dynamics of multiple cultures, organizations and individuals are never fully culturally competent.  Cultural competency for individuals, groups and societies is a continual learning process.

Beliefs are the judgments about the world that shape how individuals determine what information is valid and what sources are reliable.  Individuals rationalize their behaviors through their beliefs.  Culturally competent beliefs include:

•  Valuing differences among people and groups.  Culturally competent individuals do not just tolerate difference – they seek it out because they believe that diversity will lead to better outcomes.
  
  
•  Believing that individuals should suspend judgment when examining the beliefs and behaviors of other cultures.  This is not to say that individuals should tolerate or support every behavior of every culture, but that every one should be assessed before it is evaluated.
  
  
•  Believing that individuals act rationally according to their own sets of cultural beliefs.  Individuals will act to get what they value most.  The challenge to the culturally competent individuals is to understand the value structures and hierarchies of people who differ from them.

Behaviors are actions that flow from awareness and beliefs.  Individuals demonstrate their cultural competency through a variety of behaviors, including:                   

•  Communicating effectively across cultural boundaries.  This refers to the ability to communicate effectively with others (both sending and receiving messages).
  
  
•  Seeking diversity in problem-solving and group activities. 
  
  
•  Taking actions to promote cultural competency in others.

Cultural competency and placemaking

Where cultural competency matters most is in the area of placemaking.

Placemaking is the set of processes by which a geographic area becomes more than the sum of its parts.  New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco are major American cities with the same economic and social elements.  But they are felt by many people to be different “places.”  They have distinct meanings and cultural identities.  

Neill (2004:112) identifies three key elements of placemaking:

“The first of these involves the functional city of jobs and services extending to environmental well-being.  It is strongly influenced by economic positioning and social class.  Civic identification and the feeling of stakeholding involves expressions of ‘pride in place’ and has a relationship to how local place-making decisions are made.  Such processes can entail varying degrees of fairness, equality and inclusiveness. Cultural attachment to place goes beyond the city as a container or ‘theater’ for social activity.  It involves an emotionally charged spatial imagination extending from the personal to the various collective manifestations, including spiritual and symbolic identifications.  This often involves the endowment of space with deep meaning.”

Places reflect more than the collective values of a culture.  They represent the structure of values (Lynch, 1981).  This structure includes:

•  Strong values – What a society (through its decision-makers) values most.  Objects and other resources that represent strong values get more prominence and support from a society.
  
  
•  Weak values – Other values reflected, to a lesser extent than strong values.
  
  
•  Wishful values – Stated values, which are not well-represented in a place.  
  
  
•  Hidden values – Unstated values that are well represented in a place.

Consider a city in which the master plan calls for increased equity through more affordable housing.   Only about half of the amount of housing called for in the plan is built.  The units are in isolated and undesirable pockets of the city.  Residents of the city have to travel farther and longer than wealthier residents to get to jobs, shopping and schools.  “Increased equity” is a weak, or even wishful value.  The hidden value in this example would be a preservation of economic privilege.  The culturally competent planner would know how to assess the value structure within the community.   

In downtown Detroit, near the City Council offices, there is a statue of a large black fist swinging in a triangular frame. In a predominantly African-American city facing a significant amount of crime, underemployment, and resident anger, the statue is not merely an aesthetic representation of a human body part.  It is an expression of African-American power.  (Neill, 2004)

Culturally competent planning and placemaking

Thus, culturally competent planning and placemaking would include the following knowledge and behaviors:

Awareness:                 

•  Of one’s own theories of what “good planning” is, and how one’s own experiences and biases shape those theories.
  
  
•  Of the cultural beliefs and behaviors of one’s own professional and sectoral cultures.
  
  
•  That stakeholders are likely to have experiences and biases about planners and planning that will affect how they relate to planners.  In other words, stakeholders may be responding more to the position than to the individual.
  
  
•  Of the impact of land uses on people of different cultures, in particular members of low-income and disenfranchised communities.
  
  
•  Of the roles planners have historically played in promoting and institutionalizing the interests of dominant cultures within communities.
  
  
•  That members of cultures which have had little positive experience with urban planners are less likely to participate in collaborative planning engagements.  As a result, planners may inadvertently prepare reports and plans that serve the needs of dominant groups within an environment.
  
  
•  Of the distinct and overlapping cultures within a study area, and the ability to see the “cultures within cultures” (for example, national origin in Latino or Asian communities).
  
  
•  Of the norms of different cultures, as a way of demonstrating respect and knowledge.
  
  
•  Of the relationships of power among planning professionals and other actors in the development and maintenance of the built environment, and among planning professionals and the various communities with which they interact.

Beliefs: 

•  Planning is about making choices, and all choices in planning are normative.  In other words, a choice is neither right nor wrong, but a better (or worse) way to further values.
  
  
•  Cultural beliefs and behaviors have significant impacts on urban planning from the neighborhood to the regional levels.
  
  
•  Cultural beliefs and behaviors are important sources of data to be ascertained prior to preparing a plan.
  
  
•  The best ways to understand how people of different cultures would be impacted by planning is to engage them in collaborative planning practices.
  
  
•  The best teams are diverse, and are led by individuals who value diversity and inclusiveness and have the skills to manage the conflicts that arise from diversity.
  
  
•  Planners and planning organizations should seek to model the same kind of cultural competency they hope to see in communities.
  
  
•  Planners should seek to be both more self-aware and aware of other cultures as part of their own professional development.
  
  
•  Planners must have the courage to reconsider and change beliefs and behaviors that are counterproductive or inefficient in the context of cultural competency.  

Behaviors:  

•  In culturally diverse environments, significant amounts of resources are focused on engagement and collaborative practice.
  
  
•  Planning directors and managers habitually build culturally inclusive organizations and teams.  Directors and managers develop skills suited to lead such organizations and teams.
  
  
•  Planners work to understand and be understood by culturally diverse audiences.  Where planners are limited by their own communication skills, they engage others (individuals, organizations) to bridge communication gaps.
  
  
•  Planners prepare documents that can be understood by as many people as is reasonably feasible.
  
  
•  Planners and planning organizations engage in continual reflective practice so that they can become more aware and better adapt to new information and changing conditions.

Implications for planning education

Various authors have written about cultural diversity and communicative practice (Umemoto, 2005).  These authors include Sandercock, Thomas, Forester, Healey, Baum and Friedmann.  While the topics appear to be a growing part of the literature of planning, many planning skills do not require students to demonstrate their ability to work effectively across cultures. 

By reframing the term cultural diversity as ‘cultural competency,’ it can be established as a knowledge base as critical to the planning practitioner in the 21st century as urban design, demography, or qualitative research skills. This primer is also designed to help readers and educators operationalize cultural competency by providing measurable goals that educators and practitioners can use to test their knowledge and mastery of the cultural issues in planning. 

References:

Huitt, William. G. 2004. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.  http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html 

Lynch, Kevin. 1981.  Good City Form. Cambridge: MIT Press

Neill, William. J. 2004. Urban Planning and Cultural Identity. New York: Routledge.

Rice, Mitchell F. 2008. “A Primer for Developing a Public Agency Service Ethos of Cultural Competency in Public Services Programming and Public Services Delivery,” in Journal of Public Affairs Education. Volume 14, No. 1.  Spring 2008.

Schein, Edgar. 1992.  Organizational Culture and Leadership.  San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Shea, Danny. 2009.  “Fox News Ratings ‘Crazy High’ During Obama Administration, #2 Channel in All of Cable,” in The Huffington Post. March 24, 2009. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/24/fox-news-ratings-crazy-hi_n_178615.html

Umemoto, Karen. 2005. “Walking in Another’s Shoes: Epistemological Challenges in Participatory Planning,” in Bruce Stiftel and Vanessa Watson (eds.), Dialogues in Urban & Regional Planning. London and New York: Routledge

Footnotes:

1 Yes, this was actually said to the author by a nationally-known American non-Hispanic planner.

2 Epistemology is a field of thought focused on how knowledge is produced and validated. 

For more information:

Only a few authors in the planning field have explored this issue in ways that are useful to practicing planners.  The best sources of more information are the works of Leonie Sandercock (especially Towards Cosmopolis) and John Forester (especially The Deliberative Practitioner  and Planning in the Face of Power).  Another excellent source of wisdom is Kenneth Reardon, who as an academic and practitioner promotes culturally competent planning practice. 

--Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP