Planning Processes for Reconstruction with Citizen Participation After Large-Scale Disasters: A Case Study of Reconstruction Study Meetings in Miyako City After the Great East Japan Earthquake

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 486-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michio Ubaura ◽  
◽  
Sei Akiyama ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Local Study ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Local Residents

Town planning for reconstruction after large-scale disasters that is led exclusively by the local government may be insufficient. However, it is also difficult to effectively incorporate citizen participation into planning because of insufficient government manpower and a lack of time among citizens. The present study surveys and analyzes a process of mutual coordination between a local government and citizens involved in town reconstruction planning after a large-scale disaster in order to understand how citizens’ participation in the early stages of the planning process for town reconstruction should be. A local study meeting in Miyako City is taken as a case example. As a method of incorporating citizen participation, it is found that the local study meeting was simple and effective method in obtaining consensus among local residents, but was not effective and may even have exacerbated disagreement regarding fundamental issues.

scholarly journals Dialectical Design Dialogues: Negotiating Ethics in Participatory Planning by Building a Critical Design Atlas

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 238-251
Author(s):  
Barbara Roosen ◽  
Liesbeth Huybrechts ◽  
Oswald Devisch ◽  
Pieter Van den Broeck
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Dialectical Approach ◽  
Urban Transformations ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Everyday Reality ◽  
The City

This article explores ‘dialectical design dialogues’ as an approach to engage with ethics in everyday urban planning contexts. It starts from Paulo Freire’s pedagogical view (1970/2017), in which dialogues imply the establishment of a horizontal relation between professionals and amateurs, in order to understand, question and imagine things in everyday reality, in this case, urban transformations, applied to participatory planning and enriched through David Harvey’s (2000, 2009) dialectical approach. A dialectical approach to design dialogues acknowledges and renegotiates contrasts and convergences of ethical concerns specific to the reality of concrete daily life, rather than artificially presenting daily life as made of consensus or homogeneity. The article analyses an atlas as a tool to facilitate dialectical design dialogues in a case study of a low-density residential neighbourhood in the city of Genk, Belgium. It sees the production of the atlas as a collective endeavour during which planners, authorities and citizens reflect on possible futures starting from a confrontation of competing uses and perspectives of neighbourhood spaces. The article contributes to the state-of-the-art in participatory urban planning in two ways: (1) by reframing the theoretical discussion on ethics by arguing that not only the verbal discourses around designerly atlas techniques but also the techniques themselves can support urban planners in dealing more consciously with ethics (accountability, morality and authorship) throughout urban planning processes, (2) by offering a concrete practice-based example of producing an atlas that supports the participatory articulation and negotiation of dialectical inquiry of ethics through dialogues in a ‘real-time’ urban planning process.

scholarly journals Participatory Democracy in Local Government

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-268
Author(s):  
Ángel H. Iglesias Alonso ◽  
Roberto L. Barbeito Iglesias
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
City Government ◽  
Administrative Participation

In 2015, the local government of the city of Madrid (Spain) introduced an electronic participation system. This initiative stemmed mainly from the social movements that had occupied the squares of many Spanish cities since 2011. As a result of the local elections in 2015, many of those same activists gained institutional power, took citizens’ participation very seriously, and decided to use the possibilities offered by the internet for political and administrative participation. In this article, we seek to assess the impacts of the Madrid city government with the e-democracy experiment – based mainly on establishing an online platform to facilitate citizen participation in political and administrative decision processes. Drawing on qualitative and documental data, our research indicates that whereas the overall aim of the project was to give citizens a say in local policy and decision making, our case study shows that participation was very low since most of the population does not feel concerned by these processes. Indeed, one of our findings showed that citizens’ involvement offline surpassed in some cases their online participation. To identify who is politically active online and offline is a great challenge, to which the promoters of the project did not pay much attention. Although e-participation was meagre in relation to the electoral turnout, the case study also shows that many proposals from the public were incorporated into the local policies, indicating that from a qualitative point of view, e-participation influences decision-making processes. Perhaps local governments should use a more strategic and integrated approach towards the use of electronic technologies to foster and motivate citizens’ involvement in local politics and administration. This more integrated approach should be less dependent on ideological incentives, more institutionalized, and must incorporate citizens’ perceptions and inputs before the introduction of new technologies.

scholarly journals Evaluating Community Engagement through Argumentation Maps—A Public Participation GIS Case Study

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 588-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Rinner ◽  
Michelle Bird
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Computer Users ◽  
Sustainable Community Development ◽  
Map Reading ◽  
Online Discussion Forum ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Interest And Knowledge

Significant advances in public participation geographic information systems technology and online mapping platforms have not translated into enhanced citizen participation in democratic planning processes. This study contributes to addressing this gap by evaluating the engagement of members of an urban community in sustainable neighbourhood planning through argumentation mapping. The study provided an online public discussion forum, together with a neighbourhood map to which the participants could link their discussion contributions. On the basis of participation statistics, contents of contributions, and responses to a survey, we discuss the participants' technical and engagement experiences. The sixteen registered participants lived within or near the ‘Queen West Triangle’ in downtown Toronto, Canada. They rated themselves as experienced computer users and consequently found the participation in the online discussion forum to be easy. The contributions showed a great degree of interest and knowledge in the issues of sustainable community development. However, while the majority of participants also rated themselves as comfortable with map reading, they found the handling of the online neighbourhood map difficult and did not use the option to link their comments to the map.

Building Reconstruction After Large-Scale Disasters A Case Study of Ishinomaki City After the Great East Japan Earthquake

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (sp) ◽  
pp. 780-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michio Ubaura ◽  
◽  
Junpei Nieda ◽  
Masashi Miyakawa ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Compact City ◽  
Building Reconstruction

In large-scale disasters and the subsequent recovery process, land usage and urban spatial forms change. It is therefore important to use this process as an opportunity to create a more sustainable spatial structure. This study considers the urban spatial transformations that took place after the Great East Japan Earthquake, their causes, and accompanying issues by investigating building construction in the recovery process. The authors discovered that individual rebuilding is primarily concentrated in vacant lots within the city’s existing urbanized areas. This is likely due to the spatial impact of the urban planning and agricultural land use planning system, the area division of urbanization promotion areas, and the urbanization restricted areas, all of which were in place prior to the disaster and which have guided development. On the other hand, there are areas severely damaged by tsunami in which there has been little reconstruction of housing that was completely destroyed. The authors concluded that building reconstruction in Ishinomaki City resulted in both the formation of a high-density compact city and also very low-density urban areas.

scholarly journals Scenario-based mission statements

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Raphael Dietz ◽  
Dan Teodorovici ◽  
Sigrid Busch ◽  
Markus Blesl ◽  
Michael Ruddat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Mission Statement ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Inertial Forces ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Energy Infrastructure ◽  
Framework Conditions

Using a planning process for the Stuttgart Neckar Valley as a case study, this paper analyzes the urban inertial forces that counteract the transformation of energy infrastructure areas in the context of the energy transition. In order to overcome these forces, a scenario-based mission statement was developed in which spatial scenarios were derived from energy scenarios and finally summarized in a concept plan for the Neckar Valley. The mission statement was developed following an analytical-deliberative and transdisciplinary approach. The approach to mission statement development presented here can respond flexibly to changing framework conditions and thus serve as a model for other cities with large-scale energy infrastructures in transition.

scholarly journals City urban design in a free market economy: The case of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Spatium ◽  
2002 ◽  
pp. 31-36
Author(s):  
Kaliopa Dimitrovska-Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Economic Viability ◽  
City Centre ◽  
City Development ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
The City

A recent rapid political and economic changes in many eastern European countries demand corresponding changes in the town planning system, and especially in the development control and urban management process. For instance, at a present many historic city and town cores still remain relatively intact in their original form, but have become the target for development pressure. How should this pressure be channeled to achieve enhancement of the urban qualities of those areas (especially barracks and old factory sites), without jeopardising their competitiveness for attracting business and employment. This paper discusses the outcomes of research carried out at the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia from 1995 to 1998, on the development of appropriate methods for the appraisal and promotion of design quality in relation to economic viability in city development projects especially for an urban renewal. The elements for the assessment of urban design quality derive from the basic principles of good urban design such as identity, permeability, legibility visual appropriateness, robustness, visual and symbolic richness, amongst others. The simplified computerised model for assessing financial viability is based on building costs and market value of the investment, and shows the profitability of the development. It can be a useful tool in both assessing design viability, and for determining extra profit or ?planning gain? in the planning process negotiations such ?surplus? can be used for satisfying local needs (e.g. additional programs, design of public spaces). This method for appraisal and promotion of design quality in relation to economic viability has been examined through an assessment of the competition projects for the renewal of the Rog factory area in the city centre of Ljubljana. This case study has revealed the need for a clear strategy for future city development, with marketing guidance and policies for positive planning to achieve better vitality and viability for the city as a whole. Subsequently, the research examined successful initiatives for the promotion of urban design on a national and local level of the planning process identifying the most important issues affecting city design in the market economy, such as partnership arrangements, joint ventures and city-entrepreneurs. The paper briefly discusses: salient features of the current planning system in Slovenia and the on-going changes relating to the new approaches to town planning; the proposed method for appraisal and promotion of design quality and economic viability of urban environment; the results of the examination of this method applied to a case study - the renewal of an industrial site in the city centre of Ljubljana.

scholarly journals Evaluating Community Engagement through Argumentation Maps - A Public Participation GIS Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Rinner ◽  
Michelle Bird
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Computer Users ◽  
Sustainable Community Development ◽  
Map Reading ◽  
Online Discussion Forum ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Interest And Knowledge

Significant advances in public participation geographic information systems technology and online mapping platforms have not translated into enhanced citizen participation in democratic planning processes. This study contributes to addressing this gap by evaluating the engagement of members of an urban community in sustainable neighbourhood planning through argumentation mapping. The study provided an online public discussion forum, together with a neighbourhood map to which the participants could link their discussion contributions. On the basis of participation statistics, contents of contributions, and responses to a survey, we discuss the participants’ technical and engagement experiences. The sixteen registered participants lived within or near the ‘Queen West Triangle’ in downtown Toronto, Canada. They rated themselves as experienced computer users and consequently found the participation in the online discussion forum to be easy. The contributions showed a great degree of interest and knowledge in the issues of sustainable community development. However, while the majority of participants also rated themselves as comfortable with map reading, they found the handling of the online neighbourhood map difficult and did not use the option to link their comments to the map.

Perspectives and Good Practices in Visualization of Knowledge About Public Entities

2018 ◽  
pp. 195-213
Author(s):  
Jan Fazlagić ◽  
Windham Loopesko ◽  
Leszek Matuszak ◽  
Rigby Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Multivariate Data ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Good Practices ◽  
The Individual

Visualization of knowledge in public entities is becoming more and more popular due to the development of information technology tools, the demand for solutions allowing for reduction of information overload (IO), and new approaches to local government, including citizen participation. The chapter presents some case study examples of knowledge visualization in public entities with some conclusions and recommendations for policy makers. Additionally, it presents a complete map of certain Polish counties prepared by the authors. The authors applied, apart from the visualization in the form a map, the “Chernoff Faces” method (invented by Herman Chernoff in 1973). This method displays multivariate data on Polish counties in the shape of a human face. The individual parts, such as eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, represent values of the variables by their shape, size, placement, and orientation. The idea behind using faces is that humans easily recognize faces and notice small changes without difficulty. Chernoff Faces handle each variable differently.

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