Social Equity and Community Engagement in Urban Development Planning: Prospects and Challenges in Mbale City, Uganda

This study examined how social equity is integrated into community engagement processes in urban development planning in Mbale City, Uganda. The study was motivated by persistent concerns that conventional planning processes may privilege more powerful stakeholders while marginalising low-income residents, persons with disabilities, informal-settlement residents, and other groups whose daily lives are most affected by urban change. Using a mixed-methods design, the study drew on survey responses and qualitative insights from community members, city council officials, local government actors, planners, and key informants. A total sample of 232 participants was used, comprising an estimated survey sample derived from Yamane’s finite-population formula and additional purposively selected key informants. The findings show that community engagement in Mbale relies mainly on conventional face-to-face mechanisms, especially public meetings, focus group discussions, and surveys. Although respondents associated urban planning with visible improvements in business centres, health-care distribution, settlement areas, roads, and infrastructure, the findings also reveal persistent barriers to equitable engagement, including corruption, political interference, rapid population growth, insufficient funding, poor implementation, land-tenure challenges, unplanned settlements, and limited citizen awareness. The study concludes that infrastructure-oriented urban development does not automatically produce social equity unless participation is deliberately inclusive, transparent, adequately funded, and linked to measurable equity outcomes. The article recommends institutionalising inclusive engagement procedures, strengthening community feedback loops, expanding accessible digital and spatial tools, and embedding equity monitoring into urban planning practice.