Public Participation GIS for sustainable urban mobility planning: methods, applications and challenges

Sustainable mobility planning is a new approach to planning, and as such it requires new methods of public participation, data collection and data aggregation. In the article we present an overview of Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) methods with potential use in sustainable urban mobility planning. We present the methods using examples from two recent case studies conducted in Polish cities of Poznań and Łodź. Sustainable urban mobility planning is a cyclical process, and each stage has different data and participatory requirements. Consequently, we situate the PPGIS methods in appropriate stages of planning, based on potential benefits they may bring into the planning process. We discuss key issues related to participant recruitment and provide guidelines for planners interested in implementing methods presented in the paper. The article outlines future research directions stressing the need for systematic case study evaluation

Carbon Free Boston: Social equity report 2019

OVERVIEW: In January 2019, the Boston Green Ribbon Commission released its Carbon Free Boston: Summary Report, identifying potential options for the City of Boston to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The report found that reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 requires three mutually-reinforcing strategies in key sectors: 1) deepen energy efficiency while reducing energy demand, 2) electrify activity to the fullest practical extent, and 3) use fuels and electricity that are 100 percent free of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The Summary Report detailed the ways in which these technical strategies will transform Boston’s physical infrastructure, including its buildings, energy supply, transportation, and waste management systems. The Summary Report also highlighted that it is how these strategies are designed and implemented that matter most in ensuring an effective and equitable transition to carbon neutrality. Equity concerns exist for every option the City has to reduce GHG emissions. The services provided by each sector are not experienced equally across Boston’s communities. Low-income families and families of color are more likely to live in residences that are in poor physical condition, leading to high utility bills, unsafe and unhealthy indoor environments, and high GHG emissions.1 Those same families face greater exposure to harmful outdoor air pollution compared to others. The access and reliability of public transportation is disproportionately worse in neighborhoods with large populations of people of color, and large swaths of vulnerable neighborhoods, from East Boston to Mattapan, do not have ready access to the city’s bike network. Income inequality is a growing national issue and is particularly acute in Boston, which consistently ranks among the highest US cities in regards to income disparities. With the release of Imagine Boston 2030, Mayor Walsh committed to make Boston more equitable, affordable, connected, and resilient. The Summary Report outlined the broad strokes of how action to reach carbon neutrality intersects with equity. A just transition to carbon neutrality improves environmental quality for all Bostonians, prioritizes socially vulnerable populations, seeks to redress current and past injustice, and creates economic and social opportunities for all. This Carbon Free Boston: Social Equity Report provides a deeper equity context for Carbon Free Boston as a whole, and for each strategy area, by demonstrating how inequitable and unjust the playing field is for socially vulnerable Bostonians and why equity must be integrated into policy design and implementation. This report summarizes the current landscape of climate action work for each strategy area and evaluates how it currently impacts inequity. Finally, this report provides guidance to the City and partners on how to do better; it lays out the attributes of an equitable approach to carbon neutrality, framed around three guiding principles: 1) plan carefully to avoid unintended consequences, 2) be intentional in design through a clear equity lens, and 3) practice inclusivity from start to finish

Geo-questionnaire in urban planning – preliminary results of the experimental application in Poland

Changes in the attitude of local authorities towards the public participation in the decision making processes have prompted development of new methods of such involvement. As far as the urban planning is concerned, of particular potential is the so-called Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS). One of the tools used for the purpose is a geo-questionnaire, combining the benefits of a standard questionnaire and a map, which permits collecting information on particular sites and on the respondents’ ideas on localisation of new objects and functionalities.Within the project “Geoportal supporting public participation in urban planning”, in the years 2015–2016, a study was undertaken to explore the effectiveness and usefulness of the geo-questionnaire. Five pilot studies were performed in the Poznań and Łódź agglomerations. The geo-questionnaires concerned the local spatial management plan in Rokietnica (Poznań agglomeration), landscape protection in Łódź, conception of the transportation system development in Łódź, conception of urban design of the Łazarski Market in Poznań, and the Map of Local Needs in the city center of Poznań. The aim of the study was to present the preliminary results of the initial implementations of geo-questionnaire developed within the project Geoportal supporting public participation in urban planning. The applications of geo-questionnaire have been analysed taking into account the characteristics of implementation areas, characteristics of users, the effectiveness of recruitment methods and opinions about the tool from two points of view: the respondents and the recipients of results

Young people's involvement in service evaluation and decision making

This study examined young people‟s decision making on issues that affect their life, i.e., bullying, across different contexts (eg, family, peer, school) and involvement in evaluating the availability and effectiveness of services for young carers, young people with disabilities and their families. Key aims of this study were to offer young people a platform to evaluate existing services and make recommendations towards their improvement and to discuss ways of tackling bullying at school. Focus groups were formed with 54 young people who had experienced challenges due to bullying, learning difficulties / disabilities, and caring responsibilities for family members with disabling conditions, and discussions about services and decision making on issues that affect their life were facilitated. The findings point to a sense of agency in young people‟s life with regard to evaluating and negotiating services and offering suggestions for their improvement within their family and peers. However, in their view, their decisions regarding bullying exerted limited influence within the school context. These results raised interesting issues about young people‟s capacity to evaluate services and the contextual influences on their involvement in decision making

An Examination of Women\u27s Representation and Participation in Bicycle Advisory Committees in California, Research Report WP 11-03

In the United States, women bicycle at significantly lower rates than men. One method of remedying this disparity is to ensure that women are engaged in bicycle planning and policy making through, for example, participation in bicycle advisory committees (BACs). No research has been conducted on women’s representation and participation in these committees. This study attempts to fill that gap by examining women’s membership levels in and experiences serving on California bicycle advisory committees and bicycle/pedestrian advisory committees. In addition, we explore some of the barriers to participation faced by female cyclists. A survey of 42 committees revealed that women make up approximately 24% of members on an average bicycle (and pedestrian) advisory committee in California. Through focus group interviews with 24 women currently serving on BACs, several common themes emerged. Women on these committees are more likely than men to bring up women’s and children’s issues, and some aspects of the committees themselves may serve as barriers for women to become more involved. An online survey of 565 women cyclists in California provided insight regarding some of the common barriers women identify as reasons for not becoming involved with a BAC. Lack of awareness of the committees did not seem to be a barrier: 67% of respondents were aware of their local committee. Instead, barriers indentified by participants included: time; perceived lack of qualifications; lack of information about the committee; family and household responsibilities; and lack of interest. Recommendations to increase women’s representation on BACs include the following strategies: education about the committee; targeted recruitment efforts; and policy and procedural changes

The Nature of Context-Sensitive Solutions, Stakeholder Involvement and Critical Issues in the Urban Context

Over the last several decades many transportation and planning agencies have experienced conflicting demands emerging from the need to develop projects in an expeditious manner while at the same time involving stakeholders in the decision-making process, which sometimes is perceived as slowing project delivery and/or increasing costs. Given this tension between apparently conflicting demands, it is important to understand how the stakeholder involvement is being carried out and what best practices may be recommended. This study examines the issue in the context of a relatively new policy framework – Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) – which supports the early integration of stakeholders into the planning process. The report pays particular attention to stakeholders’ involvement in projects within urban centers, where there is likely to be more complexity, both in terms of the number of stakeholders and end users affected. CSS is a relatively new process and not consistently interpreted or applied across states and/or agencies. The literature suggests that an underlying assumption when applying CSS principles to community involvement processes is that stakeholders are empowered through clear policies and procedures directed towards their participation. In our research, we found that the extent to which public agencies apply the CSS framework and involve and respond to stakeholders depends on each agency\u27s interest to engage the public in the deliberation process to find the best-fit project for a community. It is likely that the increased integration of stakeholders into the planning and project development process will not become a state of practice until the benefits flowing from community involvement are clearly understood by the agency staff. The CSS literature describes many benefits associated with comprehensive stakeholder engagement, including gaining constituents\u27 buy-in and support for project financing. A movement toward standardizing CSS policies and directives across the country will facilitate a public discussion about the benefits of engaging communities into the project design phase and away from solely expert-based designs. In addition, there are a number of stakeholder involvement practices that, if adopted, could expedite the integration of communities\u27 views and values in the decision-making process, while at the same time minimizing the chances of protracted consultation processes, time delays and additional costs

Coordination of infrastructure development : some international comparisons

This report presents the findings from a desktop review into how governments across a selection of countries coordinate infrastructure development by working with the industry. The selected countries included the UK (Northern Ireland was examined separately from mainland UK), Canada, Germany, Japan and South Korea. The goal is to identify alternative means of coordinating infrastructure development at the government level, with a view to assist the Institution of Civil Engineers to make the case for a more strategic approach to planning and delivery of infrastructure. The need for this report derives from growing complexity in the way infrastructure development programmes are procured, and the shifting role of government from provider of infrastructure development to enabler of the process of delivery. Thus, an opportunity arose to compare alternative arrangements of government coordination. There were similarities of political governance landscape between the investigated countries regarding strategies of infrastructure delivery. Differences exist however in the way resources are allocated and decisions made regarding infrastructure development. A potential for greater transparency and collaboration between public and private sector was identified. In Germany, for example, local governments enjoy a great deal of autonomy in defining infrastructural requirements, even though the definition of requirements has to align with high-level planning principles at the regional, national and European levels. Delivery of infrastructure development is devolved to the local governments working with a range of stakeholders from both the public and private sectors with funding provided by regional allocations. By contrast, infrastructure development is coordinated by a single high-level government department Canada, Japan and South Korea. The make-up of this department varies across the three countries, with subtle differences in the roles and responsibilities of each constituent part. Nonetheless, the benefits of such an approach include a whole-systems view in decision-making and a somewhat simpler, more transparent way of funding allocation. Furthermore, in the case of Japan and South Korea, resources can be more effectively channelled towards advancing research and development related to infrastructure development capacity and more clarity in terms of skills development. The UK, on the other hand, has a fragmented approach in addressing infrastructure development, with a continuously evolving system of government departments and agencies having some form of influence on determining infrastructural requirements. In order to redress some of the challenges with such fragmentation, the situation in Northern Ireland differs slightly with the formation of a Strategic Investment Board Limited charged with overseeing infrastructure programmes, making delivery more transparent

Innovative Regulatory Frameworks Promoting Green Economy for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication in Europe

The political Rio 20 Declaration challenges lawyers and legal professionals around the world to think creatively about the legal preparedness for the green economy. To this end, this study focuses on highlighting the legal changes that are being adopted in Europe, at national and regional levels, to facilitate the transition to a greener economy. The purpose is thus to point out the challenges that domestic governments face in transitioning to a greener economy and to research the means by which these challenges can be met. This compendium gathers recent practices in legal and institutional reform that exemplify promising methods of addressing green economy measures

Planning Support Systems: Progress, Predictions, and Speculations on the Shape of Things to Come

In this paper, we review the brief history of planning support systems, sketching the way both the fields of planning and the software that supports and informs various planning tasks have fragmented and diversified. This is due to many forces which range from changing conceptions of what planning is for and who should be involved, to the rapid dissemination of computers and their software, set against the general quest to build ever more generalized software products applicable to as many activities as possible. We identify two main drivers – the move to visualization which dominates our very interaction with the computer and the move to disseminate and share software data and ideas across the web. We attempt a brief and somewhat unsatisfactory classification of tools for PSS in terms of the planning process and the software that has evolved, but this does serve to point up the state-ofthe- art and to focus our attention on the near and medium term future. We illustrate many of these issues with three exemplars: first a land usetransportation model (LUTM) as part of a concern for climate change, second a visualization of cities in their third dimension which is driving an interest in what places look like and in London, a concern for high buildings, and finally various web-based services we are developing to share spatial data which in turn suggests ways in which stakeholders can begin to define urban issues collaboratively. All these are elements in the larger scheme of things – in the development of online collaboratories for planning support. Our review far from comprehensive and our examples are simply indicative, not definitive. We conclude with some brief suggestions for the future