Citizen Design: Participation and Beyond

This article addresses certain Participatory Design (PD)-related aspects of the project OurCity that took place in Meri-Rastila, a multicultural suburb in East Helsinki, Finland. The aim of OurCity was to democratize design processes and to empower local residents to influence the redevelopment of their area. PD processes were a key component to the OurCity project and its activities, particularly in relation to the process of drafting an Alternative Master Plan (AMP) for the area. The plan competed with, and lost by a narrow margin to, the plan drafted by the Helsinki City Planning Department. In AMP the scope of PD was underestimated. In this article, we argue that it is necessary to make PD processes more visible in the end products of participatory planning. We base this argument on firsthand experience as members of the OurCity team and on an analysis of printed media and digital texts.

CORP. Vienna, 2006

This paper examines opportunities that real-time immersive visualization offers the urban design decision-making process. In a conventional public participation model the designer, developer and government bodies are all placed in privileged roles, controlling and editing information that is presented for public feedback. Through discussion of a case study from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Landscape Research (CLR) this paper examines how a community group initiated the dialogue in an otherwise opaque process by approaching the CLR to represent a development proposal using real-time immersive visualization. The community’s actions resulted in the local government and developers being forced to engage with the community group and to hear their concerns. The actions dramatically altered the process of planning and urban design development in the City of Toronto.

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Urban Design and Planning, 2017

The paper builds on the evidence of an increasing consensus towards citizens' engagement practices in shaping both the form and functioning of the city, and on the apparent distance between the setting up of governance structures adequate for participatory processes to be performed, and the daily urban planning and design. Against this context, the research investigates whether public participation processes are adequately and appropriately addressed in urban planning and design practices. A bibliometric analysis on participatory processes' connection with urban studies (including urban governance, planning, design and development) is described, together with an in-depth evaluation of some works, which makes it possible to appreciate the complexity of the topic. The bibliometric analysis shows a significant divide between the traditional fields of social sciences, built environment disciplines and information technologies; and no common understanding or framework to transla...

Fielding Graduate University ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2022

Although public participation is a ubiquitous and legally required feature in urban planning, members of the public, elected officials, and planners express dissatisfaction with its process and outcomes. This study used critical incident interviews with planners who influence participation processes to investigate the factors that affect their choices in participation design and implementation. Based on analysis of 49 practice stories of “success” or “lack of success,” this study finds that public participation design (a) is a group process that (b) extends over time and (c) is shaped and constrained by institutional factors. There is wide variation in the degree of control planners have over the participation process. The study confirmed all of the factors in the literature, emphasizing the importance of the intention of the sponsor, the attitude and skills of the planner, and material resources. The study identified new factors, including the defined decision space, the type of plan, other planner assessment of the needs of the situation, in-the-moment-issues, and project team demographics. Unexpected findings included the ubiquity of race and other equity issues in planners’ stories of public participation as well as the presence and impact of participant protests that disrupted the planning process. Because participation design is a group process embedded in a particular context, improving participation is a systemic problem. Helping individual planners to develop better skills or more pro-social motivations can improve participation marginally, but it will take systemic change of the conditions supporting participation to make a significant difference in outcomes.

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies, 2015

This paper discusses three cases where design was carried out at the intersection between public sector and citizen communities. Based on three dominant traditions meeting there-public (municipal) decision-making, Web 2.0 and participatory design-we identify challenges and solutions regarding participation and engagement of municipal workers and citizens. While this intersection is exactly where a new form of democratic participation could develop, the three traditions were, nonetheless, far from easily combined in the specific cases. The challenges that we have identified are to: Identify win-win situations, rather than to maximize participation; to work with motivation for long-term projects across municipality and communities; to identify and work with early movers, and not just representative citizens; and to create space for local municipal agencies to develop bottom-up technological solutions. The multiplicity of co-existing traditions of involvement need more focus in the future development of participatory design.

Journal of Urban Design, 2008

This paper draws from cross-disciplinary literature on the topic of citizenship to argue for a polity approach in the planning and design of public space. New institutional and social formations in the public sphere are highlighted to reconsider the aims of participation. Three models of democratic design are presented to contrast types of political choices made by urban designers. A transit plaza renovation project is used as an illustrative example to consider how operative practice can facilitate changes in social and institutional relations. In the conclusion, the implications for a polity approach in urban design are discussed.

Journal of Urban Design, 2019

This paper aims to advance the development of participation in urban design from a substantive standpoint. It departs from a prevailing focus on ideals of participation and describing participatory methods and processes. Instead, the paper stresses the need to acknowledge ‘the political’ nature of public spaces and how this challenges participatory urban design processes. This leads to a substantive exploration of differences, conflicts and power in the planning and design of public spaces, i.e., unearthing the political. The case of a participatory process in a neighbourhgood of Barcelona illustrates the theoretical discussion. This helps bring forward a much-needed critical and reflective, rather than idealistic, theorization and practice of participation in urban design.

This research examines the role of community participation in urban design. It looks at developing more efficient methods of facilitating participation so that it can become more feasible for developers and designers. A literature review and analysis of case studies found that community participation in urban design, in the developed world, is almost non-existent. In impoverished countries, however, it is more common - recognising that the commercial and political pressures of Western societies make participation in urban design difficult to justify. The research then moves to its major case study - Shelly Bay. This area is facing a large development which has been highly protested by members of the local and wider community. One of the more significant reasons for the protest was the lack of transparency in the development planning stages. So why does the public not have a say on the future of Shelly Bay? This thesis researches ways which developers, architects and urban designe...

106th ACSA Annual Meeting Proceedings, The Ethical Imperative

Participatory design is an attitude about a force for change in the creation and management of environments for people. Its strength lies in being a movement that cuts across traditional professional boundaries and cultures. Its roots lie in the ideals of a participatory democracy where collective decision-making is highly decentralized throughout all sectors of society, so that all individuals learn participatory skills and can effectively participate in various ways in the making of all decisions that affect them. This collection represents the author’s case studies in urban and small town environments in Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico and the United States. They illustrate a variety of community participation methods that can be adapted for use in different environmental settings. This book can be beneficial to architects, planners, local authorities, public officials, and citizens who wish to make it possible for people to be involved in shaping and managing their environment.