An experiment in deliberative

land-use planning

Hoi KongFaculty of Law

McGill University

Nik LukaSchools of Architecture and Urban Planning

McGill University

Research funding provided by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

The IssueCitizens are excluded from

meaningful participation in planning processes.

Constraints of time, resources and capacity.

Why Is Exclusion a Problem?

Issues of Legitimacy

Issues of Accountability

Issues of Effectiveness

What Are Some Challenges?

Closing the Expert-Layperson Gap

Finding Institutions to Mediate Between Citizens and the State

Place-based action-research for engendering meaningful

deliberation on local planning matters

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

Design development should be analogous to the classical

designer-client relationship (which often entails a Socratic

debate involving only one ‘citizen-user’—i.e., the ‘client’),

scaled up… BUT HOW ?!

Place-based action-research for engendering meaningful

deliberation on local planning matters

Linking POLITIES to MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES

through CIVIL SOCIETY … via the UNIVERSITY

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

LOCAL GOVERNMEN

T CIVIL SOCIETY

UNIVERSITYxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Earlier pilot projects undertaken in Montréal

1. Green, active, healthy neighbourhoods2. Rethinking Saint-Viateur 3. Bâtiment 7 « à nous »

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

EXPERIMENTAL PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES USING NEW DIGITAL MEDIA

…FROM THE NEIGHBOURHOOD TO THE BUILDING SITE

Issues (language, access, digital divide…)

Balancing the ‘live’ and the ‘virtual’

Finding ‘comfort zones’Capacity of polities to

engage in complex decision-making

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

Digitally-Mediated Community-Based Design: LINKING UNIVERSITIES AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Digitally-Mediated Community-Based Design: PROCESS AND EXAMPLES (Rethinking Saint-Viateur)

1. Online Questionnaire2. Workshop with key community stakeholders

3. Design development (architecture & planning students)

4. Vetting of preliminary scenarios (neighbourhood kiosk and online forum)

5. Final recommendations for interventionKONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

phase 1

UNDERSTANDthe study area—its problems and possibilities

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING + DESIGN PROCESS

portrait of the study area

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

> Portrait de quartier

phase 2

EXPLORE planning and design strategies

phase 1

UNDERSTANDthe study area—its problems and possibilities

>

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING + DESIGN PROCESS

portrait of the study area

vision, priorities, and potential interventions KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

> Vision de quartier> Priorités d’interventions > Solutions d’aménagement

> Portrait de quartier

phase 2

EXPLORE planning and design strategies

phase 3

CO-PRODUCEthe future of the study area

phase 1

UNDERSTANDthe study area—its problems and possibilities

> >>>

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING + DESIGN PROCESS

portrait of the study area

vision, priorities, and potential interventions

vetting of options, plan production, regulatory reform

Digitally-Mediated Community-Based Design: BELLECHASSE PROJECT STRATEGY (2013-15)

1. Online Questionnaire2. Community visioning workshops

3. Design development (architecture & planning students)

4. Vetting of preliminary scenarios (neighbourhood kiosk,

communuity workshops, and online forum)5. Design development (architecture & planning

students)6. Critical review with municipal officials

7. Recommendations for regulatory reform

KONG + LUKA :: PLPR7 :: PORTLAND :: 13.02.2013

ConclusionsHow to Integrate Into Legal Processes?

Ad Hoc: Affleck de la Riva Example (Square des Frères-Charron)

Reworking Existing Procedures: Replacing the Referendum + Reason-Giving