Developing a GIS-integrated Tool to Obtain Citizens’ Input in On-site Participation—Learnings from Participatory Urban Planning of a Large City

Abstract

Informal participation procedures are used by authorities to obtain citizen input and to ease formal plan approval procedures and decision-making at an early stage of urban planning projects. Participation in spatial planning is no longer conceivable without geo-referenced contributions. Hence, digital tools such as geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-touch tables (MTT) are increasingly being used to complement traditional tools. These technologies offer advantages such as visual presentations based on spatial and planning data that can help to simplify and illustrate complex issues. However, the integration of GIS and MTT in on-site participation is challenging, since media disruptions and missing tool capabilities impede the collection of citizens’ input and subsequent processing. We address these challenges by eliciting requirements and prototypically developing a GIS-integrated tool that enables citizens to comment via GIS and MTT in a context-related and intuitive way using mobile devices at participatory planning events.