Today was a good day to remember Sherry Anstein’s “A Ladder of Citizen Participation.” I learned about this in a class called “Shaping the Urban Environment” when I was an undergraduate at N.Y.U. The Professor gave a passionate lecture about Jane Jacobs and citizen engagement. He presented that famous diagram projected on the wall, and opened it up to students about what they thought about the ladder. In hindsight, this was very much an act of bravery and vulnerability on the part of the Professor, who revealed the very mechanics of political power, which was very much operating in the dynamics of his role in academic life, and in so doing, making himself vulnerable to his students. In sharing this, he earned a genuine trust from his students.
I will always be indebted to that Professor, and today was especially a good day to remember his teachings.