I believe you are asking about individual or community input into creating space. Is that it? If I'm right, that's an interesting question.

Yes, that's what I was aiming for! Planning doesn't need to be in extremes: there is something between complete freedom and complete control. Neither the planner nor the individual should be so arrogant to believe they know what's best.

I wonder if people in the Netherlands feel more ownership of public spaces country-wide given the size of the country than people in North America.

There's a different attitude here, which is both good and bad. We're with 17 million people on a small piece of earth, so we don't have much space for everyone. This means that when we come together as a nation such as on Queens Day or with the soccer World Cup, there's a great atmosphere and everyone is much kinder to each other. The downside is that it's quite easy to be in somebody's way, and we can get quite angry when a stranger is in our way. And when your neighbours are always right next to you, nuisance happens often.

America on the other hand is so huge that everyone has space enough to be themselves, but it is much harder to reach someone. Both have their advantages and downsides, and one isn't necessarily much better than the other.