TY - JOUR
T1 - Let the Citizens Map—Public Participation GIS as a Planning Support System in the Helsinki Master Plan Process
AU - Kahila-Tani, Maarit
AU - Broberg, Anna
AU - Kyttä, Marketta
AU - Tyger, Taylor
PY - 2016/3/14
Y1 - 2016/3/14
N2 - Current public participation methods are laborious, reach few participants and are ineffective at gathering usable information for planning. This situation leads often to mistrust and dissatisfaction in the process and outcome. This article identifies the critical conditions for meaningful use of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools to support the making of master plan in Helsinki. With PPGIS tools, residents’ insight of their living environment can be reached and utilized along the planning process. The results are divided to conceptual and empirical points. Whereas the conceptual points emphasize better understanding of the locus of the PPGIS tools in planning process, the empirical findings reveal new ways to study how residents’ perceptions align with the plan proposal. Though new tools, data and analysis can support representativeness, independence, early involvement, influence and transparency, planners and residents need more understanding of the benefits of these tools. The study indicates that though planners found the collected data and the analysis valuable, they still lacked the skills and institutional motivation to use the data effectively. The results point out that when PPGIS tools can be integrated to the mainstream planning practices, the tools have the ability to evolve to a more comprehensive participatory planning support system.
AB - Current public participation methods are laborious, reach few participants and are ineffective at gathering usable information for planning. This situation leads often to mistrust and dissatisfaction in the process and outcome. This article identifies the critical conditions for meaningful use of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools to support the making of master plan in Helsinki. With PPGIS tools, residents’ insight of their living environment can be reached and utilized along the planning process. The results are divided to conceptual and empirical points. Whereas the conceptual points emphasize better understanding of the locus of the PPGIS tools in planning process, the empirical findings reveal new ways to study how residents’ perceptions align with the plan proposal. Though new tools, data and analysis can support representativeness, independence, early involvement, influence and transparency, planners and residents need more understanding of the benefits of these tools. The study indicates that though planners found the collected data and the analysis valuable, they still lacked the skills and institutional motivation to use the data effectively. The results point out that when PPGIS tools can be integrated to the mainstream planning practices, the tools have the ability to evolve to a more comprehensive participatory planning support system.
KW - Helsinki
KW - master plan
KW - PPGIS
KW - PPSS
KW - PSS
KW - Public participation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959172486&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/02697459.2015.1104203
DO - 10.1080/02697459.2015.1104203
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84959172486
VL - 31
SP - 195
EP - 214
JO - Planning Practice and Research
JF - Planning Practice and Research
SN - 0269-7459
IS - 2
ER -