Metaplanning: About designing the Geodesign process

Geodesign entails complex processes involving multidisciplinary teams of professionals supporting stakeholders and communities in devising and choosing sustainable future development scenarios for their territories. The roles and the relationships among the actors may vary according to the underlying planning paradigm or style which the local normative and socio-cultural factors shape in the actual practices. Methods and tools to be used in the process phases may vary accordingly. A Geodesign study is characterised by the integrated usage of Geographic Information Science methods and tools to transform spatial data into relevant knowledge for informed design and decision-making. Thus, central to Geodesign are such issues as how to design and manage such complex processes, and how to orchestrate digital methods and tools in Geodesign support systems architectures. To address these challenges, the concept of metaplanning is proposed as an aid to the design of Geodesign processes. Expected benefits of the metaplanning exercise include better process understanding by the participants, improvements in management, and enhanced process transparency and accountability. Moreover, metaplanning may drive the integration of digital information technologies to support the Geodesign workflows.After the formalization of the concept, a Business Process Management (BPM) approach to metaplanning is proposed for its operationalization, aiming at both improving the Geodesign process and easing the creation of process-oriented 2nd generation Planning Support Systems. After a critical discussion on the possible advantages of the metaplanning approach to the design of process-oriented Geodesign workflows and support systems, issues setting the future research agenda in this domain are outlined

Proposition de nouvelles fonctionnalités WikiSIG pour supporter le travail collaboratif en Geodesign

L’émergence du Web 2.0 se matérialise par de nouvelles technologies (API, Ajax…), de nouvelles pratiques (mashup, geotagging…) et de nouveaux outils (wiki, blog…). Il repose principalement sur le principe de participation et de collaboration. Dans cette dynamique, le Web à caractère spatial et cartographique c’est-à-dire, le Web géospatial (ou GéoWeb) connait lui aussi de fortes transformations technologiques et sociales. Le GéoWeb 2.0 participatif se matérialise en particulier par des mashups entre wikis et géobrowsers (ArgooMap, Geowiki, WikiMapia, etc.). Les nouvelles applications nées de ces mashups évoluent vers des formes plus interactives d’intelligence collective. Mais ces applications ne prennent pas en compte les spécificités du travail collaboratif, en particulier la gestion de traçabilité ou l’accès dynamique à l’historique des contributions. Le Geodesign est un nouveau domaine fruit de l’association des SIG et du design, permettant à une équipe multidisciplinaire de travailler ensemble. Compte tenu de son caractère émergent, le Geodesign n’est pas assez défini et il requiert une base théorique innovante, de nouveaux outils, supports, technologies et pratiques afin de s'adapter à ses exigences complexes. Nous proposons dans cette thèse de nouvelles fonctionnalités de type WikiSIG, bâties sur les principes et technologies du GéoWeb 2.0 et visant en particulier à supporter la dimension collaborative du processus de Geodesign. Le WikiSIG est doté de fonctionnalités wiki dédiées à la donnée géospatiale (y compris dans sa composante géométrique : forme et localisation) permettant d’assurer, de manière dynamique, la gestion documentée des versions des objets et l’accès à ces versions (et de leurs métadonnées), facilitant ainsi le travail collaboratif en Geodesign. Nous proposons également la deltification qui consiste en la capacité de comparer et d’afficher les différences entre deux versions de projets. Finalement la pertinence de quelques outils du géotraitement et « sketching » est évoquée. Les principales contributions de cette thèse sont d’une part d’identifier les besoins, les exigences et les contraintes du processus de Geodesign collaboratif, et d’autre part de proposer des nouvelles fonctionnalités WikiSIG répondant au mieux à la dimension collaborative du processus. Pour ce faire, un cadre théorique est dressé où nous avons identifié les exigences du travail collaboratif de Geodesign et proposé certaines fonctionnalités WikiSIG innovantes qui sont par la suite formalisés en diagrammes UML. Une maquette informatique est aussi développée de façon à mettre en oeuvre ces fonctionnalités, lesquelles sont illustrées à partir d’un cas d’étude simulé, traité comme preuve du concept. La pertinence de ces fonctionnalités développées proposées est finalement validée par des experts à travers un questionnaire et des entrevues. En résumé, nous montrons dans cette thèse l’importance de la gestion de la traçabilité et comment accéder dynamiquement à l’historique dans un processus de Geodesign. Nous proposons aussi d’autres fonctionnalités comme la deltification, le volet multimédia supportant l’argumentation, les paramètres qualifiant les données produites, et la prise de décision collective par consensus, etc.The emergence of Web 2.0 is materialized by new technologies (APIs, Ajax ...), by new practices (mashup, geotagging ...) and by new tools (wiki, blog ...). It is primarily based on the principle of participation and collaboration. In this dynamic, the web mapping with spatial character or simply called Geospatial Web (or Geoweb) evolves by strong technological and social changes. Participatory GeoWeb 2.0 is materialized in particular by mashups among wikis and géobrowsers (ArgooMap, Geowiki, WikiMapia, etc.). The new applications resulting from these mashups are moving towards more interactive forms of collective intelligence. However, these applications do not take into account the collaborative work or the traceability management or the dynamic access to the history of contributions. The Geodesign is a new area, which is the coupling between GIS and design, allowing a multidisciplinary team to work together. As it is an emergent term, the Geodesign has not be well defined and it requires innovative theoretical basis, new tools, media, technologies and practices to fit its complex requirements. We propose precisely in this thesis new features of WikiGIS, which is built on Web 2.0 technologies, and GeoWeb 2.0 aiming in particular to support the collaborative dimension of Geodesign process. The WikiGIS consists of wiki features for the geospatial data (including its geometric component: shape and location) to ensure, dynamically, the documented release management objects and access to these versions (and metadata), facilitating collaborative work on Geodesign. It aims to produce geographic information, while ensuring the quality and credibility of data created. We propose the “deltification” as one of the innovative features of WikiGIS, it is the ability to compare and display the differences between two versions of a project. Finally, the relevance of some geoprocessing and "sketching" tools is mentioned. The main contributions of the present thesis are firstly identifying the needs, requirements and constraints of collaborative Geodesign process, and secondly to offer new features of WikiSIG best meeting to the collaborative dimension of this process. For this, a theoretical framework is drawn up which we identified the requirements of the collaborative Geodesign process and we proposed some innovative features that are subsequently formalized by UML. A user mock-up is developed in order to show the WikiGIS features, which are illustrated on a simulated case study, treated as proof of concept. Finally, these concepts are ultimately validated by experts through a questionnaire and interviews. Briefly, we have amply demonstrated in this thesis the importance of traceability management and how to dynamically access in the historic of Geodesign process and we have proposed other features like deltification, multi-media component that supports the arguments, parameters describing the data produced, decision making by consensus, etc

Ecology-based planning. Italian and French experimentations

This paper examines some French and Italian experimentations of green infrastructures’ (GI) construction in relation to their techniques and methodologies. The construction of a multifunctional green infrastructure can lead to the generation of a number of relevant bene fi ts able to face the increasing challenges of climate change and resilience (for example, social, ecological and environmental through the recognition of the concept of ecosystem services) and could ease the achievement of a performance-based approach. This approach, differently from the traditional prescriptive one, helps to attain a better and more fl exible land-use integration. In both countries, GI play an important role in contrasting land take and, for their adaptive and cross-scale nature, they help to generate a res ilient approach to urban plans and projects. Due to their fl exible and site-based nature, GI can be adapted, even if through different methodologies and approaches, both to urban and extra-urban contexts. On one hand, France, through its strong national policy on ecological networks, recognizes them as one of the major planning strategies toward a more sustainable development of territories; on the other hand, Italy has no national policy and Regions still have a hard time integrating them in already existing planning tools. In this perspective, Italian experimentations on GI construction appear to be a simple and sporadic add-on of urban and regional plans

Online citizen reporting on urban maintenance: a collection, evaluation and decision support system

We present an online support system for urban maintenance which: 1. lets citizens directly report neighbourhood issues which may require attention from the urban maintenance services: 2. evaluates the priority of reported issues; 3. allows the allocation and management of resources and workforce on solving issues and 4. permits public tracking of their status. The web application was entirely developed using low-cost Google cloud services, with the advantage of low deployment and hosting costs and practically no systems administration costs, a highly replicable and transferrable solution, and a rapid development process relying on robust Google services. The model for evaluating priority of reported issues is based on the the ELECTRE TRI rating method. In the paper we present the system's standard workflow, the evaluation model and the implementation details. We also discuss its possible more general implications for fostering and supporting citizens participation. Unlike many existing platforms for citizens reporting of maintenance issues, our system incorporates an explicit and publicly accessible evaluation model to prioritise issues and assign resources for their solution. This, we argue, is a crucial prerequisite for the principles of transparency, publicity, accountability and equity be observed by municipal governments

Sea guidelines: a comparative analysis: first outcomes

The European Directive 2001/42/EC (Directive) has introduced the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), a procedure for assessing the effects of certain plans and programs on the environment. The Directive has been transposed in different ways and times within Europe: member states have frequently drawn up guidelines to facilitate SEA implementation, by adopting different approaches. So far a few studies have been performed to analyze SEA guidelines. In this paper we aim to analyze key elements of SEA guidelines released by seven European countries in order to evaluate the effectiveness of those documents and SEA implementation. We have found that no SEA guidelines satisfy all key elements we have identified. Based on the latter finding, this work is introductory to a further analysis which aims to characterize SEA guidelines and define a proposal of SEA guidelines for landscape planning in the Italian region of Sardinia.</br

Designing Digital Topography: Opportunities for Greater Efficiency with a Primitives and Operators Approach

This paper focuses on characterizing proposed human-built topographic forms and describing them parametrically. Two basic approaches exist for characterizing shape algorithmically: parametric descriptions, which describe discrete geometries, and non-parametric methods, which for the most part work on fields. This paper offers a brief overview of the range of parametric modeling options for topography, a set of criteria that need to be fulfilled for any successful landform design system, and a primitives and operators approach that offers some specific advantages in the AMG context

Production of spatial representations through collaborative mapping. An experiment

This paper focuses on the theme of the spatial representation of cities and the territory, reflecting on the prospects for innovation in the expressive means that serve the study of the city. The described research concerns project “Mappe di Comunità 3.0” (http://ontomap.dyndns.org/), funded by the Fondazione CRT. The project focuses on the definition of a methodology that implements a synergistic exchange between institutional territorial knowledge and the knowledge of the citizens, achievable thanks to the mediation of communication provided by a semantic representation of territorial knowledge. That type of representation supports the description of data and of its properties in a unified language. Moreover, it enables the sharing of information on the Web by providing an integrated perspective on territorial data

Landscape planning and ecological networks: part A: a rural system in Nuoro, Sardinia

Urban-rural landscape planning research is nowadays focusing on strategies and tools that support practitioners in designing integrated spaces starting from the analysis of local areas, where human and natural pressures interfere. A prominent framework is provided by the ecological networks, whose design regards the combination of a set of green areas or patches (the nodes) interconnected through environmental corridors (the edges). Ecological networks are useful for biodiversity protection and enhancement, as they are able to counteract fragmentation, and to create or strengthen relations and exchanges among otherwise isolated elements. Biodiversity evolution, indeed, depends on the quantity and quality of spatial cohesion of natural areas. In this paper, we aim at designing an ecological network for the periurban area on the town of Nuoro in central Sardinia. The narrative unfolds in two parts. Part A is presented in this paper and includes its methodological premises, i.e. biodiversity conservation and ecological network analysis and design, and the introductory elements of a spatial analysis on a pilot ecological network of one hundred patches. We locate patches by focusing on the ecosystems supported by the target vegetal species holm oak (Quercus ilex) and cultivated or wild olive (Olea europaea var. sativa, O. europaea var. sylverstis). These are very common plants species in the municipality and some animal species are active as seed dispersal. The reminder, i.e. Part B, of the essay is presented in an homonymous paper that focuses on the illustration of the network analysis conceived as a monitoring system and, in future perspective, as a planning support system

Visualisation as a Model. Overview on Communication Techniques in Transport and Urban Planning

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) changed the way planners present and operate with their projects. New visualisation tools have changed the ways projects and plans are presented and disseminated. However, the opportunities given by visualisation are not completely exploited in the professional practice. This is due to several bottlenecks which occur in the daily carrying out of activities. The paper is organised in three sections. The first one explains how visualisation can be an added value to the planning practice if it is organised and designed as a framework of information; conceiving the visualisation as a model, data can be managed and represented in order to provide information at different levels of expertise, allowing city plans to be analysed and understood before their realisation. The second section resumes the changes caused by the introduction of ICT within the daily practice; a comparison between pre-digital and digital approaches highlights current opportunities for implementing the communication values of plans and projects. The third part illustrates some examples of innovative visualisations in the urban and transport planning practice, showing a number of uses of visualisation to fit different purposes. The paper concludes this insight formulating the necessity for integrating the studies on visualisation coming from different disciplines into a scientific method that can be proposed as a guideline in building the images of urban and transport plans. This would be particularly useful for obtaining a more scientific approach in the choices of representation and visualisation of urban aspects

Urban gaming simulation for enhancing disaster resilience: a social learning tool for modern disaster risk management

An emergence of the disaster resilience concept broadens the idea of urban risk management and, at the same time, enhances a theoretical aspect in a way in which we can develop our cities without making it more vulnerable to natural disasters. Nevertheless, this theoretical plausibility is hardly translated into a practical implication for urban planning, as the concept of resilience remain limited to some scholars’ debate. One of substantial factors that limit the understanding of people about disaster risk an resilience is a lack of risk awareness and risk preparedness, which can be solved by restructuring social learning process that enable a process of mutual learning between experts and the public. This study, therefore, focuses on providing insights into the difficulties of disaster risk communication we face, and how gaming simulation can be taken as a communication technique in enhancing social learning, which is regarded as a fundamental step of disaster risk management prior the mitigation process takes place. The study argues that the gaming simulation can facilitate planners in acquiring risk information from the community, conceiving the multitude of complex urban physical and socio-economic components, and conceptualizing innovative solutions to cope with disaster risks mutually with the public