The public probably plays its most important role in public management
when it joins with managers in this kind of deliberation about
the nature of public programs.
Members of the public then take the citizen role, sharing responsibility for the core democratic function
of determining the course of government.
In a recent example from the Netherlands, leaders in the city of Enschede involved residents
intensively in planning the future of a neighborhood devastated by
an explosion that had killed 22 people. Officials developed an elaborate
“process architecture,” including “multiple participatory arenas,”
and involved a representative public in formulating and ultimately
approving a comprehensive plan for the area (Denters and Klok 2010, 587).