Open Planning!- digital tool for civic engagement in the planning system-

Lara Salinas!Lancaster University!

!l.salinas@lancaster.ac.uk!

@LaraCSalinas!!

http://thecreativeexchange.org/projects/open-planning

2. Collaboration!Lancaster University University of Liverpool Independent office planner Red Ninja Studio !Engage Liverpool Liverpool Vision (2nd) Liverpool City Council

3. Open Planning!6 months & £15k March 2013 - Oct. 2014

4. Prototype!Open Planning App (beta)

1. Public Service Innovation and Democracy

digital public space where anyone, anywhere, anytime can access, explore and create with digital content

efficiency! (Rittel & Webber 1973)

"art and science of ordering the use of land

[...] to secure the maximum practicable

degree of economy, convenience and beauty"

!– Keeble (1952:9)

public participation (Brabham 2009)

urban planning:

"Planning must be a creative exercise in

finding ways to enhance and improve the places

in which we live our lives. This should be a

collective enterprise." !

– DCLG (2012:ii)

public participation!(Brabham 2009)

efficiency (Rittel & Webber 1973)

urban planning:

“it is time for new citizen participation methods

in public planning” !

– Brabham (2009:259)

aims: enhance the planning system!

• by connecting citizens' everyday life with public services a systemic change in the planning system is possible (Salinas et al. 2014)

• successful collaborative relationship: bottom-up & top-down!

• prototype tool for civic engagement: connect physical place & digital content

planning system in Liverpool

digital media applied to urban

planningopen data

define & locate problem

1.policy framework

meetings with LPA

focus group citizens

benchmarking

rapid prototypes

04-06!2013

planning process!

public consultation

8 - 16 weeks 3 weeks

citizens!application

planning system: 21 days period of public consultation

informnotify engage

21 days of public consultation:

"you go on holidays for 3 weeks and you miss it"

"I can't find useful information"

"the comment box is just for complains"

– Citizens (Salinas, 2014)

• shift power from centres of power to citizens • access to relevant information is a prerequisite

to community engagement • digital technology for open debate

policy framework:

Empowerment White Paper (2008)

Open Data White Paper (2008)

Killian Pretty Review (2008)!NPPF & Neighbourhood Planning (2012)

Taylor Report (2012)

• web-based open source resource • professional & wide public • actively managed & crowd-sourced maintenance • digital notifications

• appropriated format • co-operate with civil society, business and

academics to create agile, creative and innovative measures into public service

digital media applied to planning

map-based mashups: Planning Finder (2013)

crowdsourcing: Spacepacehive (2011)e-government: FixMyStreet (2007)

PGIS: I Wish This Was (Chang, 2010)

prototype: design iterations (Porter 2013)

prototype: design iterations (RedNinja 2013)

access database or data scraping !Jun 2013 - Jun 2014 !data owned by local planning authority data is held by a third party company !

"open data, but not quite useful data" (RedNinja, 2014)

!!on the web structured data nonproprietary formats (Berners-Lee 2006)

!

public consultation process!• improve notification process • provide meaningful information • facilitate open dialogue !

LPA response!• LPA collaboration but limited resources • LPA resistance to change !

balance between LPA & developers & citizens

define and locate the problem:

prototype

field trial

2.

evaluation

co-design workshop with citizens

meetings with LPA

questionnaires

event with users

03-10!2014

co-design workshop

notification! physical notation digital

filter by proximity filter by affinity

meaningful information! friendly language user generated content mixed media before & after data (images) active engagement! open dialogue share social networks LPA feedback value outcomes !urban events

notification! physical notation digital

filter by proximity filter by affinity

meaningful information! friendly language user generated content mixed media before & after data (images) active engagement! open dialogue share social networks LPA feedback value outcomes !urban events

prototype

!- !ok no data !no data - - no data - !ok ok - - !-

notification! physical notation digital

filter by proximity filter by affinity

meaningful information! friendly language user generated content mixed media before & after data (images) active engagement! open dialogue share social networks LPA feedback value outcomes !urban events

prototype

!- !ok no data !no data - - no data - !ok ok - - !-

notification! physical notation digital

filter by proximity filter by affinity

meaningful information! friendly language user generated content mixed media before & after data (images) active engagement! open dialogue share social networks LPA feedback value outcomes !urban events

prototype

!- !ok no data !no data - - no data - !ok ok - - !-

notification! physical notation digital

filter by proximity filter by affinity

meaningful information! friendly language user generated content mixed media before & after data (images) active engagement! open dialogue share social networks LPA feedback value outcomes !urban events

prototype

!- !ok no data !no data - - no data - !ok ok - - !-

notification! physical notation digital

filter by proximity filter by affinity

meaningful information! friendly language user generated content mixed media before & after data (images) active engagement! open dialogue share social networks LPA feedback value outcomes !urban events

prototype

!- !ok no data !no data - - no data - !ok ok - - !-

• demonstrate that a systemic change in the planning system is possible (Salinas et al. 2014)

• successful collaborative relationship: bottom-up & top-down!

• prototype for civic engagement: connect physical place & digital data, to connect citizens' everyday lives with public services

(preliminary) conclusions

• policy & citizens & benchmarking back up Open Planning's concept

• change the set of values that currently supports the system (Tewdwr-Jones & Allmendinger 1998)

• it's possible! Open Planning App is a proof of concept, but its potential is yet to be achieved

• lack of understanding of the system, including data

• bottom-up & top-down meet: find the balance!

• from consultation to participation

learning process

• action & research: don't stop each other & meet

• trust building: either time or well known local expert, prototypes & time

• resource constrains? rapid prototype

Open Planning!- digital tool for civic engagement in the planning system-

Lara Salinas!

Lancaster University!

l.salinas@lancaster.ac.uk!

@LaraCSalinas!

http://thecreativeexchange.org/projects/open-planning