Toward Cyborg PPGIS: exploring socio-technical requirements for the use of web-based PPGIS in two municipal planning cases, Stockholm region, Sweden

Web-based Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) are increasingly used for surveying place values and informing municipal planning in contexts of urban densification. However, research is lagging behind the rapid deployment of PPGIS applications. Some of the main opportunities and challenges for the uptake and implementation of web-based PPGIS are derived from a literature review and two case studies dealing with municipal planning for urban densification in the Stockholm region, Sweden. A simple clustering analysis identified three interconnected themes that together determine the performance of PPGIS: (i) tool design and affordances; (ii) organisational capacity; and (iii) governance. The results of the case studies augment existing literature regarding the connections between the different socio-technical dimensions for the design, implementation and evaluation of PPGIS applications in municipal planning. A cyborg approach to PPGIS is then proposed to improve the theoretical basis for addressing these dimensions together

3D City Models and urban information: Current issues and perspectives

Considering sustainable development of cities implies investigating cities in a holistic way taking into account many interrelations between various urban or environmental issues. 3D city models are increasingly used in different cities and countries for an intended wide range of applications beyond mere visualization. Could these 3D City models be used to integrate urban and environmental knowledge? How could they be improved to fulfill such role? We believe that enriching the semantics of current 3D city models, would extend their functionality and usability; therefore, they could serve as integration platforms of the knowledge related to urban and environmental issues allowing a huge and significant improvement of city sustainable management and development. But which elements need to be added to 3D city models? What are the most efficient ways to realize such improvement / enrichment? How to evaluate the usability of these improved 3D city models? These were the questions tackled by the COST Action TU0801 “Semantic enrichment of 3D city models for sustainable urban development”. This book gathers various materials developed all along the four year of the Action and the significant breakthroughs

Planning strategies in an age of active citizenship: a post-structuralist agenda for self-organization in spatial planning

Civic initiatives in spatial development are on the rise. They emerge from civil society spontaneously and are unpredictable, dynamic, and multiplicity. Therefore, they are often at odds with the inclusionary and disciplinary confines of participatory planning and existing planning frameworks. Planning strategies that answer to the dynamics of civic initiatives, meeting the complexity of an age of active citizenship, have so far been seriously underdeveloped. Based on empirical studies of 14 civic initiatives in Denmark, the Netherlands and England, and a theoretical hybrid of complexity theory (self-organization), actor-network theory (translation) assemblage theory (individuation), this book argues towards a spatial planning that does fit the age of active citizenship. A spatial planning that focusses on conditions that open up, on navigation and on creating consistency between a redundancy of spatial initiatives. And most importantly, the thesis argues toward a flat ontology of planning, in which there are no a priori differences between the intentions and performed behavior of planning actors – including citizens, entrepreneurs, governments, and many others

The Invisible Processes Of Urban Design: A Qualitative Investigation Into The Dynamics Of Collective Decision-Making In Urban Development And Their Potential for Spatial Quality

In recent decades, the urban landscape of Switzerland has changed drastically and is now in sharp contrast to the ideals of planners and urban designers, such as the compact form of the Historical European City. Especially for the agglomeration areas, the call for a re-qualification of the built environment is strong, where spatial quality is still low from a planning and urban design viewpoint. In the thesis at hand, it is argued that the quality of the built environment is not failing mainly due to a lack of quality goals and imprecise normative concepts rather it fails because of scarce knowledge about the dynamics of spatially relevant decision-making. From a relational perspective, it becomes clear that content cannot be separated from process. Consequently, the important question is not what good spatial quality is, but how quality goals and normative concepts are embedded in and emerge through decision-making processes. This question addresses a hidden process on which conventional perspectives in the urban design field do not focus. In this cumulative dissertation, a place-making perspective is chosen in order to uncover the invisible processes of urban design. Consequently, the empirical investigation focuses on the analysis of the dynamics of local planning strategies and urban development projects in suburban and periurban areas in Switzerland and the identification of potentials for spatial quality. In particular, ten site developments in five municipalities were analyzed in-depth in order to comprehend the mechanisms of decision-making. The observed dynamics in turn served as entry points for the investigation of the robustness of spatial quality concepts. Three major tendencies in contemporary place-making have been identified: the lack of open decision-making forums and functional logics of thinking, the de-politicization of spatial quality debates and the tendency to fix quality goals. As a consequence of these mechanisms and their inherent logic of control, an intensified fragmentation of the already heterogeneous urban landscape in agglomeration areas has been observed. Since these fragmented landscapes are produced rather systematically, I propose not to condemn heterogeneity per se but to consider it as a potential guideline for spatial quality that addresses the locally grown structures. Finally, through the liberation from the logic of control, potentials both for a better qualification of existing urban landscapes and for the activation of spatially relevant actor-networks are opened up. One of the crucial elements of such a new planning and urban design ethos is the establishment of open forums, in which spatial quality is politicized and debated beyond formal political institutions and expert systems.In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat sich die Siedlungslandschaft der Schweiz drastisch verändert und steht heute im Widerspruch zu den Idealen von Planern und Städtebauern, wie z.B. die kompakte Form der Historischen Europäischen Stadt. Vor allem in den Agglomerationen ist der Ruf nach einer Re-Qualifizierung der gebauten Umwelt stark, wo die Siedlungsqualität aus der Sicht der genannten Disziplinen negativ beurteilt wird. In der vorliegenden Arbeit argumentiere ich, dass die Qualifizierung der bebauten Umwelt hauptsächlich nicht an fehlenden Qualitätszielen und unpräzisen normativen Konzepten scheitert, sondern am geringen Wissen über die Dynamik von raumrelevanten Entscheidungsprozessen. Aus einer relationalen Perspektive wird klar, dass Inhalt nicht von Prozess getrennt werden kann. Dementsprechend stellt sich in erster Linie nicht die Frage was gute Qualität ist, sondern wie Qualitätsziele in Entscheidungsprozessen eingebettet sind und wie sie handlungswirksam werden. Diese Frage verweist auf einen versteckten Prozess, der nicht im Vordergrund von herkömmlichen Betrachtungsweisen im Städtebau steht. Um die unsichtbaren Prozesse des Städtebaus aufzudecken, wurde für diese kumulative Dissertation entsprechend eine prozessorientierte place-making Perspektive gewählt. Konsequenterweise fokussiert die empirische Studie auf die Analyse von Dynamiken in lokalen Planungsstrategien und räumlichen Entwicklungsprojekten in suburbanen und periurbanen Gebieten in der Schweiz und die Identifikation von Potentialen für räumliche Qualität. Im Speziellen wurden zehn Arealentwicklungen in fünf Gemeinden tiefgehend analysiert, mit dem Ziel, die Mechanismen der Entscheidungsfindung zu verstehen. Die beobachteten Dynamiken dienten wiederum als Einstiegspunkte für die Studie von Robustheiten von Qualitätskriterien. Es konnten drei Tendenzen im heutigen place-making identifiziert werden: Das Fehlen von offenen Entscheidungsforen und funktionale Denklogiken, die De-Politisierung von Debatten über räumliche Qualität und die Tendenz, Qualitätsziele zu fixieren. Es wurde zudem beobachtet, dass diese Mechanismen und ihre inherente Logik der Kontrolle zu einer intensivierten Fragmentierung des ohnehin schon heterogenen Siedlungsraumes in Agglomerationen führen. Da dies in einer systematischen Art und Weise vonstatten geht, möchte ich vorschlagen, dass Heterogenität nicht per se verurteilt sondern als potentielle Leitlinie für räumliche Qualität gelesen wird, die lokal gewachsenen Strukturen mit aufnimmt. Potentiale für eine bessere Qualifizierung der Siedlungslandschaften und zu einer Aktivierung von raumrelevanten Akteur-Netzwerken ergeben sich schliesslich durch eine Befreiung von der Logik der Kontrolle, im Speziellen durch die Etablierung von offenen Foren, in der räumliche Qualität im Sinne einer breiten Debatte jenseits von formalen politischen Gremien und Expertensystemen politisiert und debattiert werden kann

Mapping trajectories of becoming: four forms of behaviour in co-housing initiatives

In order learn about planning in a world increasingly characterised by resource interdependencies and a plurality of governing agencies, this paper follows the processes of becoming for two co-housing initiatives. Self-organisation – understood as the emergence of actor-networks – is the leading theoretical concept, complemented by translation from actor-network theory and individuation from assemblage theory. This theoretical hybrid distinguishes four forms of behaviour (decoding, coding, expansion and contraction) that are used to analyse the dynamics of becoming in the two cases. As a result, information is revealed on the conditions that give rise to co-housing initiatives, and the dynamic interactions between planning authorities, (groups of) initiators and other stakeholders that gave shape to the initiatives. Differences between these actors become blurred, as both try to create meaning and reasoning in a non-linear, complex and uncertain world. The paper concludes with a view on planning as an act of adaptive navigation, an act equally performed by professionals working for planning authorities and a case initiator

Multi-Agent Systems

A multi-agent system (MAS) is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems which are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or monolithic system to solve. Agent systems are open and extensible systems that allow for the deployment of autonomous and proactive software components. Multi-agent systems have been brought up and used in several application domains

Integrating case based reasoning and geographic information systems in a planing support system: Çeşme Peninsula study

Thesis (Doctoral)--Izmir Institute of Technology, City and Regional Planning, Izmir, 2009Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 110-121)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxii, 140 leavesUrban and regional planning is experiencing fundamental changes on the use of of computer-based models in planning practice and education. However, with this increased use, .Geographic Information Systems. (GIS) or .Computer Aided Design.(CAD) alone cannot serve all of the needs of planning. Computational approaches should be modified to deal better with the imperatives of contemporary planning by using artificial intelligence techniques in city planning process.The main aim of this study is to develop an integrated .Planning Support System. (PSS) tool for supporting the planning process. In this research, .Case Based Reasoning. (CBR) .an artificial intelligence technique- and .Geographic Information Systems. (GIS) .geographic analysis, data management and visualization techniqueare used as a major PSS tools to build a .Case Based System. (CBS) for knowledge representation on an operational study. Other targets of the research are to discuss the benefits of CBR method in city planning domain and to demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of this technique in a PSS. .Çeşme Peninsula. case study which applied under the desired methodology is presented as an experimental and operational stage of the thesis.This dissertation tried to find out whether an integrated model which employing CBR&GIS could support human decision making in a city planning task. While the CBS model met many of predefined goals of the thesis, both advantages and limitations have been realized from findings when applied to the complex domain such as city planning