Mobile Participation in Urban Planning
Author: Ertiö, Titiana , titiana.ertio@utu.fi
Department: Department of Social Research
University: University of Turku, Finland
Supervisor: Sampo Ruoppila
Year of completion: In progress
Language of dissertation: English
Keywords:
citizen participatio
, urban planning
, mobile phones
Areas of Research:
Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management
, Science and Technology
Abstract
In my dissertation, I explore the possibilities mobile apps offer in urban planning. Recently, mobile phones have become tools that citizens can use to give feedback. Governments all around the world have developed apps -small programmes installed on mobile phones- for citizens to use and participate in urban governance issues. For example, citizens can report broken things they notice as they walk in the city or visualize 3D models of proposed building developments directly at a particular location. Compared to traditional citizen participation such as public hearings, the advantage of "participating on the go" make mobile phones particularly interesting. It has also been noticed that young adults participate only rarely in public hearings. Thus instead of coming to a public hearing at a specific time and place, young adults equipped with mobile phones can now give feedback from their own location.
