Participatory planning and ethnic interaction in Ma'alot-Tarshiha, a Jewish-Arab community

The Jewish and Arab populations of Ma'alot-Tarshiha in Israel's Galilee region provided a unique opportunity for the application of participatory planning techniques rarely used in Israel. Using nominal groups, citizen inputs yielded valuable insights into motivations and preferences of the Arab sector, as well as the aspirations of Russian Jewish immigrant residents, the two groups constituting the most identifiable 'minorities' within the city. Although originally conceived as a teaching exercise and comprising only the first steps in citizen participation, the findings have given the twin municipality a direction for planning integration of the communities and have provided recommendations with implementation potential.