Compassion, Emotions, and Ethics

Emotions and Public Engagement

Who Cares? 

CCSC Director Ward Lyles and UIC Dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs Stacey Swearingen White (previously director of KU's School of Public Affairs and Administration) have sought to address the myriad problems with the deeply-engrained resistance, fear, and clumsiness with which many public servants handle tense and emotional dimensions of public engagement.

Emotions motivate public servants—we want to see community members flourish rather than suffer. But our education, training, and professional norms lead us to control or avoid emotions in the course of work. We call this dynamic the emotional paradox of public engagement. Our research illustrates perils resulting from the paradox as well as paths forward to re-imagine public engagement as caring.

To learn more about this work, including the resulting 2020 Best Paper in the Journal of the American Planning Association, check out this APA podcast and practice-oriented Planning Magazine piece:

• American Planning Association Podcast
• Planning Magazine article summary (PDF)

Also, this work informs teaching in the Urban Planning program at KU. Check out teaching and professional development resources stemming from this work..