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16/04/2015
Participation in planning and urban design: a focus on
the city’s public spaces
Camilo Calderon Ph.D. (SLU) | M.Sc. (KTH) | B.Arch. (UPB)
Division of Landscape Architecture
SLU
@urbandifference
camilo.calderon@slu.se
Sustainable Design Course – 25 February 2015
agenda
public spaces and sustainable urban dev.
tackling urban problems
• public spaces today
• participation
benefits
in
theory:
principles,
approaches,
• participation in practices: examples of methods
• the increasing importance given to urban open spaces as an arena to tackle today’s
multiple urban problems: environmental degradation, social segregation, public
health problems, declining sense of community, growing perception of fear.
• break
• Challenges of participation – Mini challenge
•Social urbanism, Integrated Urban Project Nororiental
– Medellin, Colombia
•La Mina transformation Plan – Barcelona, Spain
• Citizen Design – A new kind of participation?
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public spaces and sustainable urban dev.
public spaces and sustainable urban dev.
tackling urban problems
multipurpose - multidimensional
economic benefits
environmental benefits
social/cultural benefits
• increase in real state value
• attracting or retaining
• maintaining & increasing
biodiversity
• reducing pollution
• moderating urban climate
• contribute to reducing the
impact of cities on climate
• reduce
energy/water
consumption
• social interaction and
business in an area
• attracting visitors & tourist
• possibilities for direct
employment and revenue
inclusion
• fosters identity and social
cohesion
• expressing values and
cultural trends
• contributes to a sense of
place
• impact on physical and
mental health
DTLR 2002; Thompson 2002; Swanwick, Dunnett et al. 2003; CABE 2004; Loveday 2005; Matsuoka and Kaplan 2008; James, Tzoulas et al. 2009
source: (CABE, 2004)
Complexity of public spaces today
Complexity of public spaces today
increase and multiple demands, interests, needs
increase and multiple demands, interests, needs
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Complexity of public spaces today
Complexity of public spaces today
increase demand, interests, needs
increase demand, interests, needs
Complexity of public spaces today
Problems with urban planning and design
increase demand, interests, needs
fragmentation, specialization, reductionism

increase demands, interests and needs
satisfy simultaneously social/cultural ‐ ecological ‐ economic ‐
political agendas

conflicting interest competing for influencing the way cities are
developed and transformed

• understand and act from a single fragmented perspective –
specialization of disciplines
• tendency to focus on physical/aesthetic features or to base plans
and designs on market/economic/developers interests
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Problems with urban planning and design
fragmentation, specialization, reductionism
Problems with urban planning and design
commercialization, privatization, homogenization and regulation of social life and public spaces
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participatory decision making
participation and sustainability
background
• low capacity of experts/planning institutions to face changes, pressures and
complexities
• need for more democratic “just” – bottom‐up approaches to decision making
• UN Rio Declaration 1992:
Environmental issues are best handled with the
participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level ... States shall facilitate
and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely
available
processes
environment
• Local Agenda 21: require local governments to consult with the local community;
minority groups; business and industrial organizations to create a shared vision for
future sustainable development and to develop integrated local environmental plans
• empower citizens: awareness, ownership, control • Aarhus Convention 1998: grants the public rights regarding access to information,
• provide people with a voice in decisions concerning changes in their built
public participation and access to justice, in governmental decision-making
processes on matters concerning the local, national and transboundary environment
• Rio + 20 UN Sustainable Development Goals (in process) :
By 2030, enhance
inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and
sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
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participatory planning and urban design
PARTICIPATION, SOCIAL JUST, BOTTOM –UP, EMPOWERMENT,
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE….
• increasingly accepted and promoted as being one of the cornerstones of effective and sustainable cities – decision making
‐ ethical and democratic principles ‐ contribute to long term sustainability
‐ abandonment of the notion that professionals know best ‐ recognition that lay persons have highly specialized knowledge
‐ cope with the fragmentary, individualistic tendency of today’ society
‐ better understanding of local values, needs, problems and opportunities
‐ increase a sense of community and place attachment ‐ important factor of change in planning and urban design projects
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participatory planning and urban design
Communicative - collaborative planning theory
• involvement of a full range of stakeholders into decision‐making processes that have dialogue, deliberation and collaboration at its core (Healy 1996; Forester 1999; Innes and Booher 2003)
inclusive and equal discussion scenarios
commonly identify, evaluate and propose
about problems and solutions
 all stakeholders have equal power to determine the decisions that result from a planning and design process
 decisions are based on an agreed consensus over solution that is best suitable for ‘‘all’’ actors involved – win‐win 

participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
Advantages
participation levels
(Innes and Booher 2003; LUYET, V., et aL 2012. )
Understanding
• Better understanding of projects and issues
• integration of various interests, knowledge and opinion
Relationships
•new relationships between actors that did not exist before or where there used to be no empathy. Learning
• through the expertise of others • learning more about the issues that they are dealing with Outcomes
• outside of the box solutions • Better trust and acceptance of decisions
• Optimizing implementation of plans and projects ladder of citizen participation
(Arnestein, 1969)
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LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
participation levels
participation levels
Shared decisions are
the most critical in
effective participatory
programs
community action planning
spectrum of public participation
(Hamdi & Goethert, 1997)
(International Association of Public Parcitipation, 2007)
participatory urban planning and design
methods
www.communityplanning.net
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participatory urban planning and design
methods
www.dialogguiden.se
participatory urban planning and design
participatory urban planning and design
Methods and degree of involvement
Methods – Charrette
• hands-on sessions allowing small groups of professionals and non-professionals to work
creatively together developing planning and design ideas
• the workflow of the Charrette involves a series of collaborative design and public input
cycles for multiple, consecutive days – Charrette Cycles
5‐7 days
LUYET, V. et al 2012. A framework to implement Stakeholder participation in environmental projects. Journal of Environmental Management, 111, 213‐219.
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Charrette work cycles
Public vision
Charrette products
Public review
Public input
Phase 5
Phase 3
Phase 1
Public
confirmation
Phase 7
Street sections
Environmental Analysis
Master plans
Urban Advantage/LCA Town Planners
Phase 2
Phase 4
Alternative plans
Refined plans
Phase 6
Computer Renderings
Codes
Final plan
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Hand drawn renderings
Detailed studies
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Time for a break !!
participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
Critiques: Gap between theory and practice
critiques
• inclusive, power‐balanced and consensus‐building processes are far from being
mainstream practice
• most projects use participation in the form of information gathering or
consultation
fail short in actively involving a wide number of stakeholders
 fail to enter into a meaningful dialogue between participants
 give priority to some sectors of the public or stakeholders over others
 favour politicians, developers, or designer preferences over local needs and
values

• optimistic, idealistic and hard to implement in practice
unfeasibility
to involve “all” actors and interests (Connelly and Richardson 2004)
 denial of differences among worldviews and value‐systems and the conflicts
that this produces (Mouffe 2000; Watson 2003; Pløger 2004)
lack of understanding of the power structures present in society and in the
planning/political culture (Tewdwr‐Jones and Allmendinger 1998; Flyvbjerg 2002)

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participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
Critiques: unfeasibility to involve “all”
Critiques: differences among worldviews and value-systems
participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
Critiques: differences among worldviews and value-systems
Critiques: differences among worldviews and value-systems
Ecological Aspects
Social Aspects
Economic Aspects
SOCIO-CULTURAL
ECONOMICAL
ECOLOGICAL
Sustainable development
Sustainable development
Source: Ulf Ranhagen
Source: Ulf Ranhagen
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participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
Critiques: differences among worldviews and value-systems
Critiques: power structures
Economical Aspects
Social Aspects
Ecological Aspects
client/decision
maker
market
political ideologies
Sustainable development
Source: Ulf Ranhagen
planner / designer
participatory planning and urban design
participatory planning and urban design
Critiques: example - Råstasjön
Critiques: example - Råstasjön
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Mini Challenge: Boogli fruit
‐ read carefully the instructions ‐ get in to the role: become “Lakin” or “Alejandro”
‐ don’t let “Lakin” or “Alejandro” see your instructions ‐ follow the task that you are given
‐ report the agreement that you reached
the challenge of informal areas
Social urbanism - participatory urban
medellin - colombia
upgrading in medellin - colombia
• By the end of the 20th century 30% of the neighborhoods of the city followed informal principles of
development
• Informal areas have been the result of a long process of informal development creating an urban
mosaic of streets, roads and low quality housing, lack of public services
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LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
PUI noriental
PUI noriental
process
process – diagnosis phase
• five stages were the community was involved in different ways
diagnosis – planning – design – construction – activation/maintanance
• participatory activities were also designed to enhance community building and
social capital
• introduction of principles and methodology to the community
• promotion, embracement and support of the project by the community
• fresh start – handle complains and critiques – level of trust
• identification of main actors community based organizations and representatives
• creation of Community Committees – CC ‐ depending on specific areas or topics
of intervention
• identification of problems and opportunities of the area
LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
PUI noriental
PUI noriental
process – planning stage
process – design stage
• people where used to define the vocation/use of the projects
• workshops also determined social/institutional programs
• emphasis was made on trying to identify the possible attachments, perceptions
• creating the master plan for the
development/upgrading of the area
and values that the community had to the specific area
• discussions and modifications of the designs with the community
• workshops were done together with social activities
• improvement and construction of new
public spaces and public facilities, the
recovery of natural areas and the upgrading
and consolidation of housing units
• validating the general plan and its projects
with the CCs
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LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
PUI noriental
PUI noriental
process
process – construction stage
• helped control the construction’s quality – accountability of the projects
• employing people from the area – 92% 3.400 new jobs
• some of the tasks were given fully to the community
APULA ‐ Research school for Architecture and Planning for the Urban Landscape 61
SOL ‐ Department of Urban and Rural Development
LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
PUI noriental
PUI Noriental
process – activation/maintenance stage
Process – Animation/Maintenance Stage
• “activating” in the new projects these programs social/institutional
programs/activities
• create in the community a sense of ownership towards the new projects, which
would contribute to their sustainability
• the community was fully involved in the preparation and execution of the
“activation” activities – local community groups
• symbolic agreements between the administration and the community called
“Pactos Ciudadanos”(Citizen Agreements)
• promotion of the new projects at the city level, nationally and internationally
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LEARNING FROM SLUM UPGRADING AND PARTICIPATION
Paseo Calle 106
Public Space “El Mirador”
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La Mina transformation Plan - Barcelona
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1970’s Process of decay Stigmatization 19
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2000 New Focus on “La Mina”
PTBM participation process
“the main problem of the neighbourhood is not physical but social” (Sant Adria de Besós, 2002, MLM, 2002)
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First Phase – Workshops with focus groups
UB participation process
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First Phase – Workshops with focus groups
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First Phase – Workshops with focus groups
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Lines of action:
1. Increase awareness of the district
2. Overcome territorial barriers
3. Better transport
4. Better transport to and from the district
5. Better security in public areas
6. Better quality of public areas
7. Greater diversity in public areas
8. Better waste management
9. Better energy management
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Participation in the PUI and in La Mina
‐ identify different groups’ perspectives, interests and claims
‐ different methods and tools to reach out to different groups
‐ participation done in different forms according to the stage of the project (PUI)
‐ using communication tools that are accessible to the public
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Participation in the PUI and in La Mina
Context matters
‐ Difficult to involve all stakeholders (PUI & La Mina)
‐ No clear regulations guiding the participatory process (La Mina)
‐ Many of the outcomes and proposals of the participation process have not been taken into consideration by the authorities (La Mina)
‐ The municipality has only implemented actions that were in line with their initial plans or those that were easier to execute (La Mina)
‐ Priority has been given to physical interventions (La Mina but also PUI)
‐ While the physical changes are quite noticeable, critical social problems of the neighborhood are still present (La Mina but also PUI)
Context matters
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Citizen Design - A new kind of participation?
Chair bombing, Brooklyn
Walk Raleigh
Guerrilla Bike lanes, Toronto
This is a goo place to kiss
parkingday.org
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parkingday.org
cricklewoodtownsquare.com
cricklewoodtownsquare.com
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betterblock.org
betterblock.org
Atelier d´Architecture Autogérée –AAA-
“an interdisciplinary practice including architects, artists, urban planners, landscape designers, sociologists, activists, students and residents”
The result is not a built product or a design object, but a long term process that can host and adapt to the diverse needs and demands of its users. http://www.urbantactics.org/
betterblock.org
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ECOBOX ‐ A series of self‐managed projects which encourage residents to get access to and critically transform temporary misused or underused space. Aimed to preserve urban ‘biodiversity’ by encouraging the co‐existence of a wide range of life‐styles and living practices.
http://www.urbantactics.org/
http://www.urbantactics.org/
http://www.urbantactics.org/
sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org
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sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org
sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org
source: (CABE, 2004)
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thanks!!!!
camilo.calderon@slu.se
Twitter: @urbandifference
CALDERON, C. 2008. Learning from slum upgrading and participation: A case study of participatory slum upgrading in the emergence of new governance in the city of Medellín‐Colombia MSc Thesis. Stockholm, KTH ‐ Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan.
CALDERON, C. & CHELLERI, L. 2013. Social Processes in the Production of Public Spaces: Structuring Forces and Actors in the Renewal of a Deprived Neighbourhood in Barcelona. Journal of Urban Design, 18, 409‐42
CALDERON, C. 2013. Politicising Participation: Towards a new theoretical approach to participation in the planning and design of public space. PhD, SLU, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
Calderon C. (2011) En ny form för offentliga rum som börjar i det tillfälliga [New Approaches to the Production of Public Spaces]. Arkitektur 01,2011, Stockholm 34