In his 2015 academic journal appearing in the Journal of Public Affairs titled “Building community? The characteristics of America’s most civic cities,” Trent A. Engbers, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Evansville, delves into the issue of public participation. He acknowledges the abundant research regarding individual civic participation but claims little is known of what spurs community participation in some of the nation’s greatest cities. He asks if the same factors that contribute to participation on an individual basis do so on a community level.
In his introduction, Engbers affirms that the benefits of individual civic participation include the discovery of interests, an obligation to give back, and the improvement of both learned skills and collaboration. He argues that without unified engagement, governments are run by a small segment of the population and democracy does not function properly.
Engbers asserts there are two main factors that contribute to an individual’s participation: education and wealth. Education plays an important role by providing individuals with the morality to contribute to the community and equipping them with the expertise and experience to actually carry it out. Secondly, Engbers points out that wealthy individuals can actually afford to give up more of their time and money to partake in events.
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Next, Engbers explores some of the scarce research on community involvement. Some past studies suggest that once people participate in community events, it motivates others to do the same both psychologically and socially. Another past academic journal concluded that community participation is more prevalent in smaller, homogenous communities. Additionally, Engbers notes that an array of previous studies found that economic development, the presence of secondary organizations, a high concentration of social organizations, and the existence of strong corporations lead to more collective participation in cities.
In Engbers’ own research, he conducts interviews with leaders of five cities that display low levels of aggregate participation as well as five cities that enjoy high levels of community participation. He finds that a high presence of corporations, mobilization, community identity, public spaces, youth services, and a healthy government are the factors that actively influence civic participation within communities.
Engbers remarks that the biggest deciding factor of community participation is a city with a high presence of corporations. The author deduces that corporations directly benefit cities not only through employing citizens but by developing the downtown area. For example, according to one respondent, Cargill Corporation in Witchita, Kansas has “bought into the plan” of Wichita and works in conjunction with city officials (qtd. in Engbers 53). Further, Cincinnati, Ohio enjoy the benefits of strong corporate citizens such as Proctor and Gamble, Macy’s, and several others which promotes the prosperity of the community. Contrastingly, while El Paso, Texas and Augusta, Georgia have military bases and universities to propel involvement, the lack of strong corporate citizens weakens the cities overall.
Another critical aspect is mobilization. Engbers explains that cities like Provo, Utah and Cincinnati, Ohio contain numerous small neighborhoods with their own identity and councils. It is easier to get involved in these cities because it is segmented into smaller sections, allowing for more voices to be heard. Additionally, in cities like Wichita, Kansas, churches play a big role in the mobilization of the city by organizing events and serving the less fortunate.
According to Engbers, community identity also plays a role in aggregate involvement. When the whole community is backed by a commonality, it establishes a higher volume of public participation. For example, a great deal of residents in Santa Rosa, California have a moral responsibility to give back to the community and Chicagoans have a shared enthusiasm for the Chicago Bulls, musical icons such as Frank Sinatra, political figures, and so on.
The availability of public spaces also increases the likelihood of collective participation. Cities like Santa Rosa, California and Provo, Utah provide and maintain a wide array of public spaces. Such locations are especially helpful when they are free to use because it encourages interactions across socioeconomic classes. Contrarily, Naples, Florida is highly divided and unsociable due to its gated communities and the fact that a portion of its inhabitants are only there for part of the year.
Healthy government is another key component in driving mass participation. Engbers observes in cities such as Lafayette, Louisiana and Naples, Florida, respondents commented that the local governments only represent the prestigious and are unfair in their policies. Additionally, citizens of Augusta, Georgia expressed their displeasure with the Augusta Commission stating that some plans have been made with discriminatory objectives.
The final factor Engbers identifies is youth services. Communities with more youth groups not only get more community participation during that time, but those children are more likely to continue to participate throughout their entire lives. Of course, all of the cities in the study have some form of youth involvement, but the respondents from the top five cities were more likely to bring them up and attribute them, at least partly, to the city’s success.
In closing, Engbers emphasizes the lack of research in the subfield of community participation. In order to increase participation levels, cities should focus on developing the corporate and government settings and implementing social structures such as better mobilization mechanics, community identity, public spaces, and youth services. Due to the qualitative data employed in this study, it should only be used as a launchpad for future research looking to identify even more determining factors. Cities must look beyond individual participation in order to create a truly unified community that cultivates involvement in the highest capacity.
