The citizens have participated–what now? An action research study of factors impacting the use of participatory citizen knowledge in planning processes

Citizen participation is embedded into planning practice and policy, yet it remains unclear how the results of participation are shared in planning organisations and utilised to inform planning outcomes. This article examines barriers and enablers for systematic gathering, sharing and utilisation of participatory citizen knowledge and analyses the collaborative development of knowledge-sharing practices in two Finnish municipalities. The article focuses specifically on the collection and dissemination of local, experiential knowledge from two municipality-wide Public Participation GIS surveys. The study adopts an action research approach to deepen the understanding of planners' complex relationships with participatory citizen knowledge: how they gather and share it, how it informs their work and how they develop their everyday practice. The results suggest that a variety of practical, technical and cultural factors influence whether planners access and utilise gathered citizen knowledge. Planners' backgrounds, skills and personalities also influence how they perceive and utilise citizen knowledge. When provided with accessible and representative data about citizens' behaviours and preferences, adequate resources and a sense of agency through supportive organisation culture, officials from different sectors were eager to develop the use of participatory knowledge. These emergent practices can be used to inform wider iterative development to meet practitioners' needs.