Field trips

People on a fieldtrip in Waiake, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa/ New Zealand

Field trips are organised trips where participants visit physical sites.

They are useful for letting people ‘see for themselves’ the place where a development is proposed to be located or through which an issue can be further explained and better understood both by or for participants.

"Field trips are a venue for providing information and at times, opportunities for participant input. Public input is possible when other participative activities are combined with the field trip. A popular technique for environmental, planning and design-related participation processes, field trips are especially useful as a complement to conference presentations, or when written work such as reports are inappropriate. 

Field trips provide people with an understanding about a place and/or practice that allows them to incorporate a new method into their practice, or to provide informed opinions on a proposal or issue."
 
Source: Department of Sustainability and Environment (2005) p37

Advice for choosing this method

This method is appropriate for...

  • Use when the issue being considered has a geographic focus. 
  • Use when a large number of stakeholders are involved in the process. 
  • Use where participants require information or education and these are best provided or explained on-site. 
  • Use when a demonstration will be more effective than presentations. 
  • Adding transparency and education to the process of participation. 
  • Providing an opportunity to build rapport with key stakeholders. 
  • Creating greater public knowledge of issues and processes. 

Advice for using this method

Keep in mind that...

  • Can be costly if a large number of experts are engaged to present on site. 
  • Larger numbers of participants require a large number of staff/facilitators.
  • The number of participants is limited by logistics. 
  • Can be potentially attractive to protesters.  

This advice comes from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (2005), Book 3: The Engagement Toolkit. Effective Engagement: building relationships with community and other stakeholders, The Community Engagement Network Resource and Regional Services Division Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Resources

Department of Sustainability and Environment (2005), Book 3: The Engagement Toolkit.Effective Engagement: building relationships with community and other stakeholders, The Community Engagement Network, Resource and Regional Services Division Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment. Retrieved from http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/105825/Book_3_-_The_Engagement_Toolkit.pdf

Expand to view all resources related to 'Field trips'

'Field trips' is referenced in:

Back to top