Overview of eParticipation in urban planning in Finland : Practices and experiences before and after COVID-19 pandemic

In Finland, planners' experiences of eParticipation practices have been studied before and after the pandemic through an open online survey in 2018 (n = 252) and 2023 (n = 130). Additionally, five urban planners were interviewed after the survey in 2023. In this article, we analyse how the eParticipation practices and planners’ perceptions have changed over this period.

The results show that new tools and methods have been introduced in municipal planning during the period. More than half of the respondents in the 2023 survey consider that eParticipation has changed the interaction situations with stakeholders, and a majority of feel that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on interaction practices. The results also suggest that the introduction of new eParticipation tools has brought new groups who had not previously participated in urban planning. However, planners feel that creating dialogue with citizens is difficult particularly in online meetings.

The development of technology is expected to bring new opportunities and tools for participation. The ongoing shift towards information model-based planning in Finland is expected to create new opportunities for digital participation. Regarding AI, a large proportion of respondents believe that it will bring benefits to the analysis of participatory data, while some doubt that AI could manipulate the data produced by participants.

In conclusion, we suggest that more attention should be paid to the dialogue aspect of eParticipation. It is also necessary for planning organizations to develop more efficient ways of processing, analysing and sharing participatory data collected through the combinations of online and onsite participation methods.