Simulating community dynamics for transitional urban planning processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 373-386
Author(s):  
Wander Jager ◽  
Claudia Yamu
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Planning Processes

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Testbed Planning: Urban Planning in the Intersection between Experimental and Public Sector Logics

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Berglund-Snodgrass ◽  
Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Experimental Logic

Urban planning is, in many countries, increasingly becoming intertwined with local climate ambitions, investments in urban attractiveness and “smart city” innovation measures. In the intersection between these trends, urban experimentation has developed as a process where actors are granted action space to test innovations in a collaborative setting. One arena for urban experimentation is urban testbeds. Testbeds are sites of urban development, in which experimentation constitutes an integral part of planning and developing the area. This article introduces the notion of testbed planning as a way to conceptualize planning processes in delimited sites where planning is combined with processes of urban experimentation. We define testbed planning as a multi-actor, collaborative planning process in a delimited area, with the ambition to generate and disseminate learning while simultaneously developing the site. The aim of this article is to explore processes of testbed planning with regard to the role of urban planners. Using an institutional logics perspective we conceptualize planners as navigating between a public sector—and an experimental logic. The public sector logic constitutes the formal structure of “traditional” urban planning, and the experimental logic a collaborative and testing governance structure. Using examples from three Nordic municipalities, this article explores planning roles in experiments with autonomous buses in testbeds. The analysis shows that planners negotiate these logics in three different ways, combining and merging them, separating and moving between them or acting within a conflictual process where the public sector logic dominates.

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.

Mobile Participation

2013 ◽  
pp. 199-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Höffken ◽  
Bernd Streich
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Mobile Web Services ◽  
Mobile Web ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Low Threshold ◽  
Networked Society

Smartphones and tablet computers are becoming essential in everyday life, connecting us in a powerful network through mobile web services. They open new channels of communication between citizens, institutions and administrations, offer greater access to public information, and facilitate increased participation. These new forms of collaborative social interaction revolutionize our information and knowledge society. The chapter examines the new opportunities opened up by mobile phones for mParticipation in the context of urban planning processes. After beginning with a theoretical overview about technical developments, eParticipation and the changes in communication in a networked society, it defines the concept of mParticipation. This is followed by an examination of six real-world projects. These examples are then used for the identification of best practices and for the analysis of the usefulness and effectiveness of these new participatory tools. In addition, the chapter discusses the possibilities as well as the barriers to mobile participation, and makes recommendations for the use of smartphones in urban planning. mParticipation opens new channels of communication, creates new ways of gathering local information and has the chance for creating a low-threshold gateway for citizen participation in urban planning, by improving databases and giving instant feedback.

Civic Crafting in Urban Planning Public Consultation

2019 ◽  
pp. 1052-1070
Author(s):  
Lisa Ward Mather ◽  
Pamela Robinson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Visualization Tool ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
3D Environment ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Planning Processes

Minecraft is a popular video game that allows players to interact with a 3D environment. Users report that it is easy to learn and understand, is engaging and immersive, and is adaptable. Outside North America it has been piloted for urban planning public consultation processes. However, this game has not yet been studied to determine how and whether it could be used for this purpose. Using key informant interviews, this study asked practicing urban planners to assess Minecraft's potential. Key findings address Minecraft's usefulness as a visualization tool, its role in building public trust in local planning processes, the place of play in planning, and the challenges associated with its use in public consultation. The paper concludes with reflections as to how this game could effectively be used for public consultation, and offers key lessons for urban planners whose practice intersects with our digitally-enabled world.

Recent Progress in Online Communication Tools for Urban Planning

2018 ◽  
pp. 1139-1155
Author(s):  
Lukasz Damurski
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Communication Tools ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Comprehensive Method ◽  
Ict Tools ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Online Communication Tools ◽  
Regional Capital

This comparative analysis of Polish and German online communication tools for urban planning follows a similar study conducted in 2012. A comprehensive method for analysis of e-participation tools including three complimentary criteria: “transparency”, “spatiality” and “interactivity” is now enhanced with mobile applications for planning. Using the same research sample (the biggest regional capital cities) enables the comparison of the ICT tools in the years 2012-2015. The results show how public planning institutions improve and develop their online communication in urban planning processes in line with the contemporary trends and citizens' expectations. They also point to the emerging standards in e-participation in urban planning, evidently similar in Poland and Germany despite different historical background as well as socio-political and technological contexts.

scholarly journals Integrating Sustainable Stormwater Management in Urban Planning: Ways Forward towards Institutional Change and Collaborative Action

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Bohman ◽  
Erik Glaas ◽  
Martin Karlson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Urban Stormwater Management ◽  
Collaborative Action ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Sustainable Stormwater Management ◽  
New Strategies

Climate change impacts, ageing infrastructure and the increasing imperviousness of cities all raise enormous challenges to and call for new ways of planning for sustainable urban stormwater management. Especially, closer collaboration among a diverse set of actors involved has been pointed to as critical to enable the development of holistic and flexible approaches. However, the shift towards inclusive forms of planning has been slow, and characterized by technical and institutional lock-ins. Against this background, this study scrutinizes the challenges and developments perceived as central for improving stormwater planning, and analyzes how formal and informal institutional change could contribute to enhancing sustainability in this sector. Building on an analysis of data from workshops, interviews and a survey with Swedish planners and water managers, we suggest new strategies for integrating stormwater concerns into planning processes, overcoming silo structures, fostering cocreation cultures, and securing the continuation and implementation of stormwater management through various planning stages.

scholarly journals High-Tech Urban Agriculture in Amsterdam: An Actor Network Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 3955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohsen H. Farhangi ◽  
Margherita E. Turvani ◽  
Arnold van der Valk ◽  
Gerrit J. Carsjens
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Food Production ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Production Practices

The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social–technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processes.

scholarly journals A User-Based Look at Visualization Tools for Environmental Data and Suggestions for Improvement—An Inventory among City Planners in Gothenburg

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Stahre Wästberg ◽  
Monica Billger ◽  
Marco Adelfio
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Visual Representation ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Types Of Information

With a growing interest in environmental data and the need to consider various environmental factors earlier in the planning processes, it becomes more important to disseminate this type of information to different target groups in a comprehensible way. To support easier decision making, many cities and municipalities are increasingly using digital city models where it is possible to integrate different types of information based on simulation and visualization of future scenarios. Such tools have high potential, but the visual representation of data still needs to be developed. In this paper, we investigate how professionals within urban planning currently use visualization to communicate environmental data, and what their needs are regarding tools and visual representation. We discuss challenges for representing environmental data in urban development processes, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of these issues. We base our investigation on a literature study, an inventorying survey and a focus group discussion with professionals within urban planning. This study provides an end-user perspective among urban planners and valuable insights on tool usage and visualization. Results show that applications used for environmental visualization still can be improved regarding, e.g., user friendliness and information handling, which may increase their efficiency.

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