Challenges and Opportunities for Public Participation in Urban and Regional Planning during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Lessons Learned for the Future

Marijana Pantić, Juaneé Cilliers, Guido Cimadomo, Fernando Montaño, Olusola Olufemi, Sally Torres Mallma and Johan van den Berg
Additional contact information
Marijana Pantić: Institute of Architecture and Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Juaneé Cilliers: Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
Guido Cimadomo: Department of Art and Architecture, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Málaga, 29016 Málaga, Spain
Fernando Montaño: Digital City Science, HafenCity Universität, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
Olusola Olufemi: Independent Researcher, Tanner Court, Oakville, ON 1497, Canada
Sally Torres Mallma: Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima 15039, Peru
Johan van den Berg: Urbanissimo bv, 3650 Dilsen-Stokkem, Belgium

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred significant changes in the fields of economic development, social issues, everyday life, etc. Activities that used to depend on face-to-face communication were firstly suspended and then shifted to new forms of communication. This includes the public participation process in urban and spatial planning. Therefore, this study explores the new domain developed in urban and spatial planning with regard to public participation and surmises future realms in the post-pandemic era. On the occasion of the virtual collaboration platform Cyber Agora organized by the ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), chosen participants got together virtually to share, discuss, and compare their practical knowledge in public participation before and during COVID-19. In addition, they addressed the potential benefits of shifting from traditional to virtual participation and potential benefits in the post-COVID-19 era. Considering the collected data and understanding them in the light of the available literature, this study concludes that the application of a combined approach (using both traditional and virtual modes of participation) is recommended because it would enable a larger number and higher diversity of participants. The study also elaborates particular modes of virtual participation with the pros and cons of their use in a particular context.

Keywords: collaborative decision making; urbanism; spatial planning; online platforms; lockdown (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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