Suchergebnisse

Rising the quality of life through improving existing living environments remains one of the critical tasks of contemporary urban design. The quality of life is, in part, a subjective matter and shall thus be approached not only through professional measures but must also include participatory inputs. The techniques for including the residents' points of view are various and greatly depend on the broader context of each case. However, using new ICT and other digitally supported tools is an ongoing trend and can be traced in various places and stages of the process. This article addresses the issue of the participatory reading of characteristics in existing living environments as they are assessed through residents' eyes. It reviews and analyses two case studies, a Slovenian and a Spanish one, that used the photovoice approach with photography and related supplementary materials to get to know residents' perceptions towards cultural and natural values that enhance their quality of life. The cases illustrate two different contexts, the urban and the rural one. In both cases, the processes were supported by a digital approach to achieve broader participation in the process, to offer residents an additional channel of expression, to analyse the input data, to disseminate the results, and to encourage a wider community and stakeholder dialogue. The case studies reflect the added value of using digital support in terms of the level of the integration of residents' voices into the placemaking process. It concludes that the photovoice supported by digital tools can importantly enhance community-oriented urban planning processes.

Placemaking has become a key concept in many disciplines. Due to an increase in digitization, mobilities, migration and rapid changes to the urban environments, it is important to learn how planning and social experts practice it in different contexts. Placemaking in Practice provides an inventory of practices, reflecting on different issues related to placemaking from a pan European perspective. It brings different cases, perspectives, and results analysed under the same purpose, to advance knowledge on placemaking, the actors engaged and results for people. It is backed by an intensive review of recent literature on placemaking, engagement, methods and activism results - towards developing a new placemaking agenda. Placemaking in Practice combines theory, methodology, methods (including digital ones) and their application in a pan-European context and imbedded into a relevant historical context. Contributors are: Branislav Antonić, Tatisiana Astrouskaya,Lucija Ažman Momirski, Anna Louise Bradley, Lucia Brisudová, Monica Bocci, David Buil-Gil, Nevena Dakovic, Alexandra Delgado Jiménez, Despoina Dimelli, Aleksandra Djukic, Nika Đuho, Agisilaos Economou, Ayse Erek, Mastoureh Fathi, Juan A. García-Esparza, Gilles Gesquiere, Nina Goršič, Preben Hansen, Carola Hein, Conor Horan, Erna Husukić, Kinga Kimic, Roland Krebs, Jelena Maric, Edmond Manahasa, Laura Martinez-Izquierdo, Marluci Menezes, Tim Mavric, Bahanaur Nasya, Mircea Negru, Matej Nikšič, Jelena Maric, Paulina Polko, Clara Julia Reich, Francesco Rotondo, Ljiljana Rogac Mijatovi, Tatiana Ruchinskaya, Carlos Smaniotto Costa, Miloslav Šerý, Reka Solymosi, Dina Stober, Juli Székely, Nagayamma Tavares Aragão, Piero Tiano, Cor Wagenaar, and Emina Zejnilović

Participatory budgeting has arisen as an interesting form of citizen participation in urban development and, thus, as a new way of exercising placemaking and grassroots democracy. In this article, we provide an analysis of projects in Lisbon (Portugal), Valencia (Spain), and Warsaw (Poland) with a focus on three key projects concerned with improving the public realm and their contribution to enhancing the network of public open spaces. Our guiding question is: What are the potential benefits of participatory budgeting to increase green spaces and urban governance? A comparison of the three cities' participatory budgeting programmes provides an overview of their social and political goals and the contents that provide opportunities for citizens' participation in decision-making. The cases of Jardim do Caracol da Penha (Lisbon), the Green Street Świętokrzyska (Warsaw), and the Green Plan for the Poblats Marítims District (Valencia) pave the way for a discussion on engagement, empowerment, and connectivity with the local communities through public spaces. Using participatory budgeting as a planning and political instrument at the municipal level, as the three cases show, can be a useful way to enhance and enrich the communities' engagement with their environments. One aspect that emerged is the communication strategies implemented in the three cases. The analysis shows that the use of media and social networks to disseminate information and gather supporters for their ideas and this growth in political influence seems to be essential for participatory budgeting. The study is backed by desk work (comprehensive understanding of the local programmes) and field work to better identify the changes in loco.