Conflict, consent, dissensus: The unfinished as challenge to politics and planning

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442098584
Author(s):  
John Pløger

Public participation in planning politics is a legal right in many countries. Planners often see themselves as the defenders of public interests, whereas planning studies may see public planning as the institutionalization of politics, the politicized management or government of disputes on planning issues. Public participation is ultimately a political decision, and this article focuses on how phrases like planning is ‘a work in progress’ and agonistic consensus is a ‘solution for now’ in fact add a critical issue to planning politics: such statements indicate that planning should be seen as an unfinished process, and decisions as temporary. A ‘solution for now’ literally means a ‘planning for-the-time-being’ and a ‘coming-back-to’, highlighting that there are processual issues unresolved within planning praxis. Politics and planning cannot be separated. Two cases of urban planning conflict—the struggle of the homeless for shelter and the Occupy movement—show this: they are used to discuss how planning politics may benefit from having a temporary resting place and being unfinished.

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-83
Author(s):  
Mingliang Feng

To improve the quality of life, human-oriented smart city planning and management based on time-space behavior was studied. First, the basic theory of time-space behavior and smart city was introduced. The relationship between public participation and smart city construction planning was analyzed, and the positive and negative significance of public participation in smart city construction planning was expounded. Then, the mechanism for public participation in smart city construction planning was proposed. Finally, public participation in smart city construction planning was analyzed from the perspectives of power balance, interest coordination and safeguard measures. The results showed that public participation in smart city construction planning was an important manifestation of the realization of public democratic rights. The scientific nature and feasibility of smart city construction planning was enhanced. The smooth implementation of smart city construction planning was an important foundation for promoting smart city construction. Therefore, public participation is an important way to safeguard social public interests and build a harmonious society.


2014 ◽  
pp. 813-830
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Obermeyer

This chapter examines the use of GIS, geovisualization, and other geo-locational technologies and applications, including social networking websites and mobile phones associated with Web 2.0, as a tool kit for promoting democratization or leading to loss of data privacy and freedom, focusing on the relevant historical events in 2011 and the first half of 2012. The chapter begins by presenting a brief history of the GIS and society literature, including public participation GIS, volunteered geographic information, and geoslavery. The discussion covers both the rosy view (geospatial and Web 2.0 technologies as a democratizing force) and the gloomy perspective (these same technologies as tools of control based on data capture and loss of privacy). Underlying both of these views are scale and the ability to jump scales, which are examined through the lens of Kevin Cox's (1998) “spaces of dependence and engagement.” Having laid this groundwork, the chapter considers events in the recent past, focusing first on the Arab Spring movements in Tunisia and Egypt and the Occupy movement in the U.S. as examples of the optimistic perspective. It then proceeds to discuss data capture from smart phones and cell phones as examples of the pessimistic view. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how individuals may enhance the democratization potential of geotechnologies and Web 2.0 while minimizing data capture, loss of spatial data privacy, and the harm that these can bring.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1238-1265
Author(s):  
Pilvi Nummi ◽  
Susa Eräranta ◽  
Maarit Kahila-Tani

Planning competitions are used as a way to determine alternatives and promote innovative solutions in the early phase of urban planning. However, the traditional jury-based evaluation process is encountering significant opposition, as it does not consider the views of local residents. This chapter describes how web-based public participation tools are utilized in urban planning competitions to register public opinion alongside the expert view given by the jury. The research focus of this chapter is on studying how public participation can be arranged in competition processes, how the contestants use the information produced, and how it has been utilized in further planning of the area. Based on two Finnish case studies, this study indicates that web-based tools can augment public participation in the competition process. However, the results indicate that the impact of participation on selecting the winner is weak. Instead, in further planning of the area, the public opinions are valuable.


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