Evaluating Community Engagement through Argumentation Maps—A Public Participation GIS Case Study
- 1 January 2009
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design
- Vol. 36 (4), 588-601
- https://doi.org/10.1068/b34084
Abstract
Significant advances in public participation geographic information systems technology and online mapping platforms have not translated into enhanced citizen participation in democratic planning processes. This study contributes to addressing this gap by evaluating the engagement of members of an urban community in sustainable neighbourhood planning through argumentation mapping. The study provided an online public discussion forum, together with a neighbourhood map to which the participants could link their discussion contributions. On the basis of participation statistics, contents of contributions, and responses to a survey, we discuss the participants' technical and engagement experiences. The sixteen registered participants lived within or near the ‘Queen West Triangle’ in downtown Toronto, Canada. They rated themselves as experienced computer users and consequently found the participation in the online discussion forum to be easy. The contributions showed a great degree of interest and knowledge in the issues of sustainable community development. However, while the majority of participants also rated themselves as comfortable with map reading, they found the handling of the online neighbourhood map difficult and did not use the option to link their comments to the map.Keywords
Other Versions
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Web GIS collaborative framework to structure and manage distributed planning processesJournal of Geographical Systems, 2004
- Usability evaluation and PPGIS: towards a user-centred design approachInternational Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2003
- Public Participation, GIS, and Cyberdemocracy: Evaluating on-Line Spatial Decision Support SystemsEnvironment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 2001
- Public Participation Using Web-Based GISEnvironment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 2001
- Internet GIS for Public ParticipationEnvironment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 2001
- Argumentation Maps: GIS-Based Discussion Support for On-Line PlanningEnvironment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 2001
- Mapping Policy Discourse with CRANES: Spatial Understanding Support Systems as a Medium for Community Conflict ResolutionEnvironment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 2000
- Web-based public participation geographical information systems: an aid to local environmental decision-makingComputers, Environment and Urban Systems, 2000
- Using GIS on the Internet for PlanningPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1999
- The Internet aids community participation in the planning processComputers, Environment and Urban Systems, 1998