Local internet forums: Interactive land use planning and urban development in neighbourhoods

The Internet is shaking up the expertise and production of knowledge in the planning institution. Digital citizens are searching for information from different places, combining formal and informal sources without apology, and are debating and speaking out on matters. Public planning organisations will be fully stretched to adapt their practices and services to meet these demands. This chapter will present the research results of a project that embarked on gathering and combining local information and knowledge on urban planning on Internet forums. Interactive applications were also developed for these forums to support public participation in ongoing land use planning and development projects in the City of Espoo, Finland. The research results demonstrate how fragmented local, place-based knowledge is, how difficult it is to combine informal and formal information in urban planning, and how inaccessible public data systems still are.