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A look at City Planning processes in the City of Toronto from the perspective of Urban Planning activists. Analysis of communications issues and solutions using Knowledge, Media Design Tools.
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City Planning and Ci,zen Par,cipa,on
Michelle Gay (michellegay.com) [email protected]
Ins,ga,ng Ques,on How do ‘planning-‐ac,vist’ ci,zens
meaningfully engage with City Planning bureaucracies + planning processes in Toronto?
For: University of Toronto, Master of Informa,on Science. KMD1001 Fall 2012 Design Brief
City Planning and Ci,zen Par,cipa,on
Michelle Gay
Ins,ga,ng Ques,on How do ‘planning-‐ac,vist’ ci,zens
meaningfully engage with the City Planning bureaucracies + planning processes in Toronto?
• area of study: West Queen West Triangle -‐ Toronto • re-‐zoned a Regenera'on area by City of Toronto in ~2005 • 6 independent developers bought up all the con'guous parcels of land (9 parcels) • no collabora'on on a seamless site plan for the area • the beloved 48 Abell, an old warehouse full of ar,sts studios • Carnegie library was being underused • the en,re ward was ‘under-‐parked’ – not enough green/open space
• Development proposals were out of scale with the rest of the neighbourhood
• two words: bohemian embassy Their marke,ng campaign: “One of the first condominium projects in the new West Queen West community in downtown Toronto, Bohemian Embassy was branded as the ul$mately “cool” address.” • this sen,ment exposed the disconnect between an exis,ng crea,ve, cultural and produc,ve communi,es – living and working in the area for decades…. And the private developers.
• And it seems that the ball was dropped by the ward Councillor and city Planning department was overworked and understaffed
This disconnect spurred the community into ac'on: How do ‘planning-‐ac,vist’ ci,zens meaningfully engage with the planning processes in Toronto? FORM A GROUP | LEARN ABOUT CITY PLANNING | PRESSURE THE CITY
2. Knowledge, Media, Design
* theory * frameworks * methodologies
3. New Prac,ce
1. Exis,ng Prac,ce
using KMD thinking to map out this problem:
1. Exis'ng process of Planning and engagement is full of holes, gaps and large issues.
2. Can we use KMD analysis and tools to review the problem and develop poten'al solu'ons?
2. Knowledge, Media, Design
* theory * frameworks * methodologies
3. New Prac,ce
1. Exis,ng Prac,ce
using KMD thinking to map out this problem:
Can this new solu'on be serialized and shared with other communi'es?s
Concept Map of City Planning Processes. Coagulate into 4 areas.
Red Zone: exis,ng city processes. These include Area, Master and Official plans. Many other tools and opinions used by myriad of departments which knit into the planning process (transporta,on, roads, services). We have unelected city staff running these departments, who ogen see ci,zens with opinions, as a pain. There are exis,ng city protocols – such as Community council, where ci,zens’ opinions can be heard. Official city run Community Consulta'ons and Public mee'ngs – where the city sends out no,ces and invites ci,zens to ‘consult’.
Green Zone: ci,zens’ desire to reach into the centre of the city planning process – but the MOAT of bureaucracy makes this very difficult. Many ci,zens groups organize their own public mee,ngs. Case study: ac've18 community organiza'on, – a number of public charrehes were organized – around Urban Design, Park and Public spaces, and North triangle planning – all open and public mee'ngs where ci'zens were encouraged to dream and think big thoughts about how to beher develop this area. These were mee,ngs where ci,zens could ar,culate complex community visions and where knowledge could be shared.
Blue Zone: is a catchall area for Radical ReDesign of City planning processes: It contains ideas like – A) the Ethics of Design; B) how to insert ci,zen par,cipa,on in earlier points on the development path; C) Funding for ci,zen’s groups to do these visioning projects; D) a way of inser,ng “Non-‐Expert” voices into the process; E) how to make transparent the city planning process; F) offering tools for visioning and collabora,on; G) and a way of changing the development ,melines to work on an idea ,meline instead of financial ,meline.
Orange Zone: City Communica'ons + consulta'ons -‐ looking at the way the City believes they are including Ci'zens’ voices into their process. The issues: A) printed maher sent to neighbourhoods are narrow cast. B) The designs of the missives are bureaucra'c and uninvi'ng. C) The designs make people feel like they need to be experts in Planning or Architecture D) mostly that by the ,me the city sends out a missive, most people think decisions have been made.
1. Beber Urban Plan + Livable City
2. Beber communica'ons process between City planners, Developers and Ci'zens
IDEA SHARING
CITIZENS: Charrebes at early design stages
CITY: Community Consulta'ons
Puts ci,zens in REACTIVE STATE not COLLABORATIVE STATE
IDEAL GOAL
SPECIFIC GOAL
Ci,zens CONSCIOUSLY SELF ORGANIZE. PROBLEMS: • Funding • Resources • No Authority
BENEFITS: • Engaged ci'zen groups share gathered knowledge • Small advances in city plan if enough pressure Is felt by elected officials
Ci'zens do not trust City processes
City departments do not trust Ci'zens
1. 101 Guide to Understanding Urban Planning 2. Infographics explaining Planning Processes 3. Thesaurus of Controlled Language – Architecture, Planning, Policy terms 4. Redesign of City Communica'ons Missives 5. Cultural Master Plan to accompany the area plan
1. ‘101’ Understanding Urban Planning
2. Infographics explaining Planning Processes
3. Thesaurus of shared and controlled Language – Architecture, Planning, Policy terms
4. Redesign of City Communica'ons Missives
5. Cultural Master Plan to accompany the Area plans
KMD applica'on…
How to deliver? Must be updatable; online; printable maher?
Should be updatable; online; printable maher; animated?
Must be updatable; delivered online; mobile for use in public mee'ngs; printable maber?
Re-‐Design Templates and Suggested Graphical Standards Manuals? Communica,ons Processes reviewed and reworked.
Online updatable; ebook; Print book
1. 101 Guide to Understanding Urban Planning 2. Infographics explaining Planning Processes 3. Thesaurus of Controlled Language – Architectural, Planning, Engineering, Policy terms 4. Redesign of City Communica'ons Missives 5. Cultural Master Plan to accompany the area plan
Thesaurus will be an object for building literacy for ci'zens to help them engage in planning processes
Methods and Challenges for working on this KM Design applica'on:
1. Look at other city models – how do they engage ci,zens. 2. Study how they use language, how do they communicate to ci,zens? 3. What models of par'cipatory processes work best for groups with varying exper,se levels? 4. What tools are employed?
Sketchup for Massing Studies? Help to learning the language of massing. Photography/video for studying use of space, light, texture and materiality?
5. How do we move toward the concept of the Professional Ci'zen: the highly engaged, civic minded, ‘non-‐experts’, who bring other exper,se to the process?
I will use the matrix of ‘cultural theory’ models put forward by the ‘Messy Research / Clumsy Solu'ons’ paper. (Ney & Verweij) How would one incorporate the cultural theories of egalitarianism, Individualism, fatalism and “the hermit” concepts that they propose -‐ into a staunch hierarchical model (that the city seems to use). What happens if you combine the Design Thinking and Par'cipatory Ac'on Research models? Will use the work of Ac,ve18 Community Associa,on as the ‘empirical’ study to look at the ‘cultural theory ‘ within their matrix.
Methods and Challenges for working on this KM Design applica'on:
Purpose built 36,000 sq g Media Art Centre
with cinema
~ 96 Ar,st Owned below-‐Market value Live-‐work studios
Theatre Centre Moving to purpose Renovated Carnegie
Library
.4 hectare park Underground wired For digital media
Art works
Projects to date by Ac,ve18 Community Organiza,on
Some Ques'ons: Is a Mul,-‐Media based Thesaurus (language, video, graphical objects) a good focus for a KMD applica,on? Are there other applica,ons that make more sense than – web, anima,ons, mobile app, printed maher, ebook? Is focusing on the shared language a place that could actually be used to empower ci,zens? Will this inch us towards empowering ci,zens to become engaged in a seemingly blackbox process? What would make you get involved in city planning?