Films about Lodz

Łódź the City of Culture (Part 1),
A film created to promote the city for the European Capital of Culture 2016
added by lodzartcenter

Łódź the City of Culture (Part 2),
A film created to promote the city for the European Capital of Culture 2016
added by lodzartcenter

Komentarze (0) 26.01.2008. 05:28

The Rehabilitation of a Historic District of Murfreesboro

The rehabilitation of a historic district of Murfreesboro as the successful example of actions engaging the local community. Adaptation of the method to use a computer as communication tool.

Małgorzata Hanzl, dr inż. arch.

Article published in materials of the conference Local Authorities and the Protection of the Historic Cities, Zamość - Krasnobród, the 3rd-4th June 2004 The full text in the polish version)

In the eighties the ideas of public participation in the urban planning saw a great development both in the theory and in practice. The effect of these changes was on the one hand the introduction of new regulations, concerning public participation, into planning law of different countries. On the other hand, the new methods of preparation of plans with public participation were worked out. One of many examples of projects realised during the most radical development of the idea of public participation planning was the programme of rehabilitation of the historic district of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, USA. The actions undertaken when working at the rehabilitation project have been examined to check whether the methods used are possible to adapt to current conditions of technology progress and to the use of a computer as a tool for communication and presentation. The second important issue is an attempt to answer the question to what extent such practices can be introduced into Polish conditions. The process of plan creation has been analysed as well as its elements: goals, strategies, and the methods of their definition. The complete vision of proposed state for the area, called Ideal Future, was used when discussing the plans, in town promotion, in public debate and to indicate the directions of actions taken up by MHA. The images were also used in presentation of scenarios concerning particular fragments of the district. The effective non-professional participation requires understanding of conceptions and methods applied in decision making. Until people are not conscious of their environment and do not understand it, creative thinking about using it and changing is not possible. The range of actions should be undertaken to get public interest towards the issues of space shape. The experiences of other countries show that legal regulations and procedures are not sufficient to be able to help in creating people’s attachment to their place of living.

Fig. 1. Illustration of politics showing possible before and after appearances of the site: 1. shield parking lots; 2. widen sidewalks
(Sanoff H. 1978, p.134)

Kontynuuj czytanie Komentarze (0) 07.01.2008. 18:12

The IT use for public participation in the urban planning

The new possibilities of public participation in the urban planning as an effect of use of contemporary Information Technology.

The PhD thesis of Malgorzata Hanzl - summary

1. Introduction

Purpose, thesis, methods

The purpose of the dissertation is to present new methods of public participation in the urban planning which use the computer technology. The background for this task are contemporary polish planning conditions and possibilities of citizens contribution to the urban planning. The dissertation thesis assumes that Information Technology opens new ways for citizens participation at the local level. The descriptive method had been used to present the issue. The possibilities of use of new technology in polish conditions has been verified by the survey conducted among inhabitants of Lodz and its region, among local councilors and clerks of local authorities.

2. Theory and practice of public participation in the urban planning

Public participation in urban planning dates since Greeks. It is inseparable from democracy. In the modern times it has become popular in 60-ties since the movements which took place in American cities downtowns. The contemporary forms of citizens participation in urban planning may be classified into three groups: - formal, - educational and surveys of public opinions, - contemporary methods of participation In the last case new participation paradigm has been defined. It is described in literature as net participation which means working in small informal groups over a particular problem. The theory and practice of deliberative democracy has been developing all over the world. The dissertation contains rich choice of references concerning citizens participation in planning.

3. Citizens participation in the urban planning in Poland

Physical planning is a complicated process which depends on many factors and engages many disciplines and people. The planning rules at the community level are defined by planning regulations and planning law which includes the formal procedures of citizens participation. The tradition of the "civic society" in Poland dates since middle ages. Its development was interrupted by post-war period. There are many reasons for lack of interest in planning issues in Poland. Nowadays the public interest in the planning issues becomes popular along with the increase of the role of private possession, yet it takes mainly the form of protests against authorities decisions. The social role of an architect and planner has been evolving since the post war period.

4. Information society in process of public participation in the urban planning

We observe rapid growth of information society nowadays. The technology development allows for multi-way communication which was impossible few years ago. The SI expansion is accompanied by many social processes. All this creates a milieu favourable for self-education and taking part in events and groups which function in the virtual world. The support from the part of authorities, the government politics, the development of e-government along with legal regulations favouring the SI development - all this support changes in citizens live. The processes mentioned above allows for transposition of contacts from real meetings to debates taking place in virtual spaces. The process takes time but its evolution is remarkable. The contemporary public spaces may be classified into two groups: virtual and real.

5. Image of city as medium for communication in the planning process.

The contemporary planning theory evolves towards planning through communication and debate. The image of the city in the citizens' mind in short depends on real city appearance and on information absorbed from different sources. It is influenced by city images and visions of proposed transformation published in different media. There are many kinds of city representation created for different purposes: maps, plans and city models of various kinds and ways of use. The basis for physical planning is data base concerning city. 3D models which are easy to understand allow acquiring of complex planning issues by non-professional addressees. There are many methods of theirs creation, they are used in many ways. The chapter contains the collection of city models examples which represents the most important kinds. Current technology allows also for citizens participation in the city data base completion. To sum up the city models play an important role in the cotemporary planning process.

6. New information technology and new possibilities of public participation in the urban planning

New information technology has many application areas in urban planning: data management and collaboration in project groups are the most important. Net participation which means taking part in the process via internet grows on popularity. The communication may be one directional - then we may talk of informing - or two directional - then it becomes real. There are also the possibilities to communicate in the working groups over a specific subject, for example using internet forum or chat room. The usual rules of informing should be applied to get the successful process. There are two main streams of presentation of urban models at WWW sites: 3D models presentation and Participatory Planning GIS. The different methods which joins both are also present. The non-professional addressee should be attracted to visit the participatory planning site. Achieving this requires both: easiness of presentation forms used and interaction. The games technology may be used as a tool in urban planning communication, it may serve as communication channel and as a method of vision simulation. This chapter contains also a collection of examples of use of new information technology in urban planning with citizens' participation. Besides Internet there are also new computer technology which may be used in direct debates over planning issues. The great possibilities presents the Augmented Reality technology which is currently tested.

7. Conclusions

The development of SI and computer technology create many new possibilities and opportunities of participatory planning with the use of new media. The conditions of public participation in the urban planning in Poland influence the real potential to introduce these new methods. The survey concerning the methods of presentation of planning information had been conducted to verify these possibilities. Its results points out both to the need of such applications and its potential as to the restrictions for public participation in Poland with the use of the new media. Propositions of participatory planning procedures with the use of new information technology has been enumerated. The last chapter contains also the teoretical conclusions and proposals for further research.

Komentarze (0) 05.01.2008. 12:32

Site concerning issues of urban design and planning.

The creation of the project mojemiasto.org.pl has just begun. The project aims to popularise and explain the urban design and planning issues. The project addressee are CITIZENS.

mojemiasto.org.pl means my place, my town, my environment. When a place belongs to somebody - or to a group of people - it becomes neat,ordered, well managed and friendly. It becomes a good place to live. There is a simple condition of belonging (not necessary being ones property). The place belongs to an individual and a group of people in case when it may be influenced by them.

Public participation in urban planning dates since Greeks. It is inseparable from democracy. In the modern times it has become popular in 60-ties since the movements which took place in American cities downtowns. The contemporary forms of citizens participation in urban planning may be classified into three groups:

- formal,

- educational and surveys of public opinions,

- contemporary methods of participation.

In the last case new participation paradigm has been defined. It is described in literature as net participation which means working in small informal groups over a particular problem. The theory and practice of deliberative democracy has been developing all over the world. The project aim is to provide rich choice of references concerning citizens participation in planning.

Komentarze (0) 05.01.2008. 07:42