Search

The Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Challenge simulation platform helps planners and stakeholders understand and manage the complexity of MSP. In the interactive simulation, different data layers covering an entire sea region can be viewed to make an assessment of the current status. Users can create scenarios for future uses of the marine space over a period of several decades. Changes in energy infrastructure, shipping, and the marine environment are then simulated, and the effects are visualized using indicators and heat maps. The platform is built with advanced game technology and uses aspects of role-play to create interactive sessions; it can thus be referred to as serious gaming. To calculate and visualize the effects of planning decisions on the marine ecology, we integrated the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) food web modeling approach into the platform. We demonstrate how EwE was connected to MSP, considering the range of constraints imposed by running scientific software in interactive serious gaming sessions while still providing cascading ecological feedback in response to planning actions. We explored the connection by adapting two published ecological models for use in MSP sessions. We conclude with lessons learned and identify future developments of the simulation platform.

There is a widely shared view that planning actors require planning support systems (PSS) that can be easily adapted to changing project demands packaged in easy-to-understand formats. Recent studies confirm this and show that PSS are increasingly user-friendly. Still, little is known about under what conditions they add value in practice. This paper tests three hypotheses about PSS performance and usability in an experimental study. 133 students were exposed to different conditions of PSS facilitation flexibility and visualization hardware (tablets versus maptable). They performed identical strategy-making tasks consisting of divergence and convergence. In addition to measuring the quantity and quality of ideas, we assessed perceived process quality and usability of the PSS. Tablet groups performed better on idea generation and evaluated their solution to the planning problem more positively. In contrast, maptable groups performed better on ideational quality and evaluated their experiences in terms of collaboration, more positively. Groups under indicator flexibility performed best in idea generation, while groups under no flexibility received the highest score for ideational quality. Process quality scores were highest under no flexibility followed by indicator only flexibility. Findings suggest tablet use may be more effective for idea generation, an outcome of divergence, while maptables better support group communication, a key aspect of convergence. The study confirms the need for tools and methods that fit both individual and group work. Findings also indicate that identifying structured ways of applying adaptive PSS to the complex world of planning practice may be key to contextualizing such tools.

Recent advances in planning support technologies has enabled interactive collaboration in design processes by multiple stakeholder groups. The available technologies collect and store information on both the evolution of design alternatives and the interactions of participants involved in the design process. However, making sense of available process log-data is still a challenge. This study focuses on process analytics in geodesign studies, where iterative collaboration between stakeholders generates design alternatives and consensus by negotiation. Early findings demonstrate how geodesign process analytics makes it possible to gain insights both in recurrent patterns in participant behavior and in the evolution of the design. The approach, based on the enhanced adaptive structuration theory framework, has been tested using data collected by the Geodesignhub web-based collaborative planning support systems in the Cagliari (Italy) geodesign study.

Rapid advancements in computer technologies have had a significant impact on the field of spatial planning. However, their added value during the strategic stages of this process remains limited. This thesis takes spatial strategy making under the loupe to examine the dynamics involved in these highly complex and communicative stages. Planning support in the form of serious games is designed together with planning actors as a means of facilitating inter-actor communication and of involving actors in the model building process. The main conclusion of the thesis is that skilled facilitation is needed that structures group processes involving more flexible support, with dedicated support given to individual work.

Brief demonstration of how the Ecopath-with-Ecosim ecosystem models for the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions function within the MSP Challenge simulation platform

Reflection on how we are approaching MSP & MSP Challenge community development: 69 board game sessions and 20 digital game sessions since Jan 2016 involving over 1650 participants

Brief demonstration of how the Ecopath-with-Ecosim ecosystem models for the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions function within the MSP Challenge simulation platform

Brief demonstration of how the Ecopath-with-Ecosim ecosystem models for the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions function within the MSP Challenge simulation platform

Reflection on how we are approaching MSP & MSP Challenge community development: 69 board game sessions and 20 digital game sessions since Jan 2016 involving over 1650 participants

Developing resilience in built human environments is a complex undertaking. It requires decision support tools that can convey complexities in meaningful and understandable ways. Building smart cities and generating big data, however, is not enough. In order to improve decision-making and ultimately inform resilient communities we need to be able to translate big data at scales and in ways that are useful and approachable. In this paper we argue that creating more resilient communities calls for planning support systems (PSSs) that go beyond the ones we have today. We call for PSSs that possess a greater degree of sentience—that (a) possess a greater awareness of application context and user needs; (b) are capable of iterative learning; (c) are capable of spatial and temporal reasoning; (d) understand rules; and (e) are accessible and interactive. We consider the questions: How might intelligent or sentient information delivery systems allow for more strategic, context-aware, resilient, and ultima...

Since 2011, a role-playing game, a board game and a digital interactive simulation platform have been developed under the name MSP Challenge. The latest digital MSP Challenge Simulation Platform editions were developed by the Cradle R&D lab at BUas' Academy for Digital Entertainment. They have since been used in workshops, conferences, education, as well as for real life stakeholder engagement. By doing so we help develop a global learning MSP community.

Bike-sharing systems are an emerging form of sharing-mobility in many cities worldwide. The travel patterns of users that take advantage of smart devices to ride a shared-bicycle in two large cities (Chicago and Budapest) have been investigated, with analysis of approximately two million transaction data records associated with bike trips made over a three-month period in each location. Several aspects of user travel behavior—such as day and time of travel, frequency of usage, duration of usage, seasonal and peak/off-peak variations, major origin/destinations—have been included in this analysis. The results show that in both cities the bike-sharing option is a male-dominated alternative, particularly welcomed by younger groups, with the largest share of trips occurring in the afternoon peak. Appropriate usage of open-source big-data provides important lessons for successful vehicle sharing models, allowing the application of the findings to other cities and mobility options where these systems are still developing.

Planning Support Systems (PSS) are a promising tool for involving stakeholders in urban adaptation workshops. Past research has focused on the use and added value of PSS. While earlier studies have widely acknowledged the importance of context in determining the effectiveness of PSS, there has so far been no dedicated study of the influence of context on the use and added value of these tools in real planning workshops. To address this gap, we made an in-depth exploratory case study of a PSS, called the Adaptation Support Tool (AST), used in an adaptation planning workshop in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The workshop used the AST to support collaborative spatial planning for urban water management, at the neighbourhood scale. Interviews, questionnaires, observations and document review were used to investigate the influence of three contextual factors on the use and added value of the AST. The studied contextual factors are: 1) the style of tool use, 2) the phase of planning, and 3) the local project setting. Our findings indicate that the style of tool use and the local project setting were the most important contextual factors in determining the use and added value of the AST during the workshop. Meanwhile, the phase of planning appears to be critical for achieving impacts at the project level. This exploratory case study is a modest first contribution to understanding the influence of context on the use and added value of PSS in practice. Nevertheless, the findings indicate that further exploration of this topic could offer important insights to PSS use in practice. The influence of context on the use and added value of Planning Support Systems in workshops: an exploratory case study of climate adaptation planning in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The research problem is that the land-use (re-)planning process in the existing Egyptian cities does not attain sustainability. This is because of the unfulfillment of essential principles within their land-use structures, lack of harmony between the added and old parts in the cities, and other reasons. This leads to the need for developing an assessment system, which is a computational spatial planning support system-SPSS. This SPSS is used for identifying the degree of sustainability attainment in land-uses plans, predicting probable problems, and suggesting modifications in the evaluated plans. The main goal is to design the SPSS for supporting sustainability in the Egyptian cities. The secondary goals are: studying the Egyptian planning and administrative systems for designing the technical and administrative frameworks for the SPSS, the development of an assessment model from the SPSS for assessing sustainability in land-use structures of urban areas, as well as the identification of the improvements required in the model and the recommendations for developing the SPSS. The theoretical part aims to design each of the administrative and technical frameworks of the SPSS. This requires studying each of the main planning approaches, the sustainability in urban land-use planning, and the significance of using efficient assessment tools for evaluating the sustainability in this process. The added value of the planning support systems-PSSs for planning and their role in supporting sustainability attainment in urban land-use planning are discussed. Then, a group of previous examples in the sustainability assessment from various countries (developed and developing countries) are selected, which have used various assessment tools. This is to extract some learned lessons to be guides for the SPSS. And so, the comprehensive technical framework for the SPSS is designed, which includes the suggested methods and techniques that perform various stages of the assessment process. The Egyptian context is studied regarding the planning and administration systems within the Egyptian cities, as well as the spatial and administrative problems facing the sustainable development. And so, the administrative framework for the SPSS is identified, which includes the entities that should be involved in the assessment process. The empirical part focuses on the design of a selected assessment model from the comprehensive technical framework of the SPSS to be established as a minimized version from it. This model is programmed in the form of a new toolbox within the ArcGIS™ software through geoscripting using Python programming language to be applied for assessing the sustainability attainment in the land-use structure of urban areas. The required assessing criteria for the model specialized for the Egyptian and German cities are identified, for applying it on German and Egyptian study areas. The conclusions regarding each of PSSs, the Egyptian local administration and planning systems, sustainability attainment in the land-use planning process in Egyptian Cities, as well as the proposed SPSS and the developed toolbox are drawn. The recommendations are regarding each of challenges facing the development and application of PSSs, the Egyptian local administration and planning systems, the spatial problems in Egyptian cities, the establishment of the SPSS, and the application of the toolbox. The future agenda is in the fields of sustainable urban land-use planning, planning support science, and the development process in the Egyptian cities.

The inherent complexity of planning at sea, called maritime spatial planning (MSP), requires a planning approach where science (data and evidence) and stakeholders (their engagement and involvement) are integrated throughout the planning process. An increasing number of innovative planning support systems (PSS) in terrestrial planning incorporate scientific models and data into multi-player digital game platforms with an element of role-play. However, maritime PSS are still early in their innovation curve, and the use and usefulness of existing tools still needs to be demonstrated. Therefore, the authors investigate the serious game, MSP Challenge 2050, for its potential use as an innovative maritime PSS and present the results of three case studies on participant learning in sessions of game events held in Newfoundland, Venice, and Copenhagen. This paper focusses on the added values of MSP Challenge 2050, specifically at the individual, group, and outcome levels, through the promotion of the knowledge co-creation cycle. During the three game events, data was collected through participant surveys. Additionally, participants of the Newfoundland event were audiovisually recorded to perform an interaction analysis. Results from survey answers and the interaction analysis provide evidence that MSP Challenge 2050 succeeds at the promotion of group and individual learning by translating complex information to players and creating a forum wherein participants can share their thoughts and perspectives all the while (co-) creating new types of knowledge. Overall, MSP Challenge and serious games in general represent promising tools that can be used to facilitate the MSP process.

Abandoned industrial sites should be redeveloped in a sustainable way to reduce waste land. Planning support systems (PSSs) can help in the early planning phase by presenting possible outcomes of various redevelopment scenarios to the planners. This paper presents a PSS to support sustainable industrial site redevelopment decision based on past experiences. Past experiences are recorded as cases in the system. Case-based reasoning (CBR) is applied. For sites needed to be redeveloped, similar redeveloped cases are retrieved from the case library. Strategies that the previous cases have applied are reviewed and the new site is designed based on the comparison study of new case and past experiences, together with the input from planners. Sustainability is dynamically evaluated on site and regional level. A showcase is presented for the system illustration.

One of the most notable changes to cityscapes worldwide has been the steady expansion of information and communications technologies (ICTs). This chapter describes the future planning research needed to realize the potential of creating new planning support systems (PSS) that apply emerging ICTs. Many applications of ICTs in planning are very much focusing on management and efficiency rather than exploring city futures. However, PSS often require significant investments of time and money, so their development should be conducted when there is a documented link to positive influence on planning processes and outcomes. At the heart of many planning support system applications are geographic information systems (GISs) which allow for the storage, manipulation, and visualization of spatial information. Several innovative projects are using web-based GIS as building blocks for fully online PSS, realizing the vision of a digital planning infrastructure proposed by writers like R. Klosterman.

This paper argues that the opportunities offered by currently available collaborative Planning Support Systems (PSS) are useful not only for applying a systems approach and coordinating actors in the planning process, but also for tracking the evolution of design alternatives toward a final plan. The availability of process log-data in the latest PSS opens new paths for understanding (geo)design dynamics. With the aim of taking full advantage of this new data source, a novel Geodesign Process Analytics is described in detail from log-data extraction and pre-processing methods and tools to the development of the set of spatial, performance, temporal and design evolution indicators. The study also demonstrates how the proposed measures are appropriate for display in a dynamic dashboard, making available a real-time process analysis tool to the team coordinators, thus supporting their leading role in facilitating the geodesign process. The research assumptions were tested using the Geodesignhub PSS and data from a geodesign study developed within the International Geodesign Collaboration.

Accessibility concepts are increasingly acknowledged as fundamental to understand cities and urban regions. Accordingly, accessibility instruments have been recognised as valuable support tools for land-use and transport planning. However, despite the relatively large number of instruments available in the literature, they are not widely used in planning practice.This paper aims to explore why accessibility instruments are not widely used in planning practice. To this end we focus our research on perceived user-friendliness and usefulness of accessibility instruments. First, we surveyed a number of instrument developers, providing an overview on the characteristics of accessibility instruments available and on developers’ perceptions of their user-friendliness in planning practice. Second, we brought together developers and planning practitioners in a number of local workshops across Europe and Australia, where participants were asked to use insights provided by accessibility instruments for the development of planning strategies.We found that most practitioners are convinced of the usefulness of accessibility instruments in planning practice, as they generate new and relevant insights for planners. Findings suggest that not only user-friendliness problems, but mainly organizational barriers and lack of institutionalization of accessibility instruments, are the main causes of the implementation gap. Thus user-friendliness improvement may provide limited contributions to the successful implementation of accessibility concepts in planning practice. In fact, there seems to be more to gain from active and continued engagement of instrument developers with planning practitioners and from the institutionalization of accessibility planning.

Many planning support tools have recently been developed aimed at measuring and mod- elling accessibility (Accessibility Instrument or AI). The main difficulty for tool developers is designing an AI that is at the same time technically rigorous and usable in practice. Measuring accessibility is indeed a complex task, and AI outputs are difficult to communi- cate to target end-users, in particular, because these users are professionals from several disciplines with different languages and areas of expertise, such as urban geographers, spa- tial planners, transport planners, and budgeting professionals. In addition to this, AI devel- opers seem to have little awareness of the needs of AI end-users, which in turn tend to have limited ability for using these tools. Against this complex background, our research focuses on the viewpoint of AI developers, with two aims: (1) to provide insights into how AI devel- opers perceive their tools and (2) to understand how their perceptions might change after testing their AI with end-users. With this in mind, an analysis of 15 case studies was per- formed: groups of end-users tested different AI in structured workshops. Before and after the workshops, two questionnaires explored the AI developers’ perceptions on the tools and their usability. The paper demonstrates that the workshops with end-users were crit- ical for developers to appreciate the importance of specific characteristics the tool should have, namely practical relevance, flexibility, and ease of use. The study provides evidence that AI developers were prone to change their perceptions about AI after interacting directly with end-users.

A major challenge for all cities is to reconcile growth with cultural, social and environmental considerations, along with connecting urban design with opportunities for health and wellbeing. Planning Support Systems (PSSs) can facilitate future planning and foster collaboration between researchers and urban planners in promoting healthy built environments. The Walkability PSS was developed specially for that purpose. This chapter presents an evaluation of the Walkability PSS, a PSS for building planning scenarios and assessing their impacts on walking behaviours. The evaluation was conducted in collaboration with a group of local urban planners. The study results show that the Walkability PSS could support planners in several situations including testing and comparing planning scenarios for greenfield and brownfield areas, conducting consultation and/or workshops with various stakeholders and making decisions about the provision of new infrastructure.

© 2017 Dr. Patrizia Russo, Planning Support Systems (PSS) are software tools designed for assisting planners in making better decisions about current and future land uses. Despite their potential to support planners in the context of strategic planning tasks, PSS adoption in planning practice is low. The literature suggests that a major factor limiting the adoption of PSS is their low usability, i.e. they do not allow planners to satisfactorily perform their activities. To better understand to what extent planners were satisfied with functionality provided by PSS and its use, the author conducted an in-depth investigation into PSS usability. Using a primarily qualitative approach, it employs two user studies consisting of a user test and a series of interviews. In the user test, planners were observed while interacting with a set of PSS in order to identify any usability problems arising and to assess their experiences. General software adoption by planners and factors influencing it were investigated in the interview study involving people from the planning discipline from three countries, i.e. Australia, Italy and Switzerland. Interviews were also conducted with academic planners in the respective countries who provided information about the education and software training which planning students are provided with by university curricula. The aim of this research was to provide the planning discipline with recommendations and contributions to improve PSS usability and adoption. Moreover, developers are provided with effective guidance to create more usable PSS.

Urban Activity Explorer is a new prototype for a planning support system that uses visual analytics to understand mobile social media data. Mobile social media data are growing at an astounding rate and have been studied from a variety of perspectives. Our system consists of linked visualizations that include temporal, spatial and topical data, and is well suited for exploring multiple scenarios. It allows a wide latitude for exploration, verification and knowledge generation as a central feature of the system. For this work, we used a database of approximately 1,000,000 geolocated tweets over a two-month period in Los Angeles. Urban Activity Explorer’s usage of visual analytic principles is uniquely suited to address the issues of inflexibility in data systems that led to planning support systems. We demonstrate that mobile social media can be a valuable and complementary source of information about the city.

The role of planning support systems (PSS) in planning practice is still quite restricted, despite explosive growth in the supply of PSS and increased demand from planning practice as a result of the growing complexity of planning tasks. Research in this area must become more focused if this unsatisfactory situation is to be overcome. This can be achieved by developing a coherent research agenda in which the constituting research elements work together in order to rectify the situation as it stands. This paper employs a structured methodology with the aim of realising the start of a PSS research agenda. A number of recommendations for future PSS research can be derived from this tentative agenda. The key recommendation calls for shifting the prime focus from PSS instruments (means) to their support role (goal). When this is achieved, a new and innovative field of study can be established: planning support science.

The environmental consequences of planning decisions are often undervalued. This can result from a number of potential causes: (a) there might be a lack of adequate information to correctly assess environmental consequences; (b) stakeholders might discount the spatial and temporal impacts; (c) a failure to understand the dynamic interactions between socio-ecological systems including secondary and tertiary response mechanisms; or (d) the gravity of the status quo, i.e., blindly following a traditional discourse. In this paper, we argue that a Planning Support System (PSS) that enhances an assessment of environmental impacts and is integral to a community or regional planning process can help reveal the true environmental implications of scenario planning decisions, and thus improve communal planning and decision-making. We demonstrate our ideas through our experiences developing and deploying one such PSS—the Land-use Evolution and impact Assessment Model (LEAM) Planning Support System. University of Illinois researchers have worked directly with government planning officials and community stakeholders to analyze alternate future development scenarios and improve the planning process through a participatory, iterative process of visioning, model tuning, simulation, and discussion. The resulting information enables an evaluation of alternative policy or investment choices and their potential environmental implications that can change the way communities both generate and use plans.

The call by Geertman (2008) for research into the factual support role and organizational context in which a form of e-planning referred to as planning support systems (PSS) are created, implemented and used in planning practice is the basis for this research. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is used as a framework to investigate and evaluate the social and technical interactions involved in PSS implementation and usage. Allowing the researcher to trace interactions between human and non-human actors, focusing on what causes actors to align with a network and what constitutes a stable network. Case studies have been conducted on three PSS implementations in the Australian State of New South Wales. The case studies document the complex and wide ranging resources that are necessary to create and implement a PSS and the organizational context in which three PSS implementations either succeeded or failed. This article explores the end result of this study further in the article.

Urban regeneration is of considerable contemporary public interest and debate. Sustainable urban regeneration requires a comprehensive and integrated vision and action to address the resolution of urban problems and bring about a lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social, and environmental conditions of an area that has been subject to change. Thus, there are increased requirements for decision making and knowledge sharing by urban planners, local authorities, and other practitioners to achieve sustainability in urban regeneration activities. To address these challenges the research team of the Sustainable Urban Regeneration (SURegen) project (UK Government EPSRC funded, £2.5 Million, in the SUE programme) designed and implemented a prototype Regeneration Workbench, which addresses the key challenges in regeneration practice and provides a flexible and integrated e-platform. Over the past 20 years many Planning Support Systems (PSS) have been developed. Whereas most of these systems address a small range of issues, the SURegen workbench takes a holistic approach to all aspects that have influence sustainable regeneration. Furthermore, the workbench specifically addresses the management of urban regeneration projects and the skills gaps amongst regeneration professionals. This article describes the urban challenges addressed and details the SURegen approach to meeting these challenges.

Planning support systems (PSSs) are intended to facilitate relevant steps in planning processes; however, the academic evaluation of PSSs reveals many bottlenecks precluding a widespread use of these systems. A central weakness is the lack of communication between PSS developers (focusing on technical issues) and potential PSS users. Other academic fields such as knowledge management and technological innovation recognised similar bottlenecks years ago. On the basis of methods proposed in these fields, a new process architecture for the development of a PSS is proposed. Through a dialogue in which PSS developers and potential users discuss and use the PSS, existing tools, instruments, and models are refined and improved to be more useful to their potential users. The focus shifts away from the development of a technically more sophisticated support system, towards a process of PSS development which is intertwined with the planning process itself. This process architecture is called mediated planning support (MPS). We explore what can be learned from other academic domains and enquire about the applicability of these findings to PSS development. In Amsterdam the Department of Transport wanted to transform their transportation model into a land-use and transport PSS and their work illustrates how such a process architecture can link PSS developers and users in planning practice. We discuss the concepts behind MPS and use the case of Amsterdam to visualise its workings, lastly offering hypotheses on the method and suggestions for further research.

Land-use models are a well-established component of planning support systems to support urban planning for and with a local community. Existing models are based on either land-suitability analysis or facility-network performance analysis, reflecting two major approaches in modelling for spatial planning—land-use-allocation or land-use-change modelling, and location-allocation modelling. In this study, we propose an agent-based approach to combine methods from both approaches in a single system. We argue and illustrate in a case study that the integrated model is better able to account for a difference in nature between area-type land uses (for example, housing, industry, nature), on the one hand, and facility-type land uses (for example, retailing, schools, medical services), on the other. The model is able to generate a limited set of different land-use-plan alternatives by systematically varying macrocharacteristics of facility networks. The results of a case study suggest that the model generates meaningful sets of land-use-plan alternatives in reasonable computation time.