New Communication Tools and eParticipation: Social Media in Urban Planning

摘要

The Internet and new Web2.0 tools are changing the way we communicate in an unprecedented way. Weblogs, Microblogs (like Twitter), and social media in general enable worldwide, real-time, multimedia communication with low barriers to entry. But in what ways are urban planners taking advantage of these new communication channels? This paper discusses these new opportunities as well as the barriers they present, and it makes recommendations for using social media in the urban planning processes. It begins with a theoretical overview about participation in urban planning, eParticipation, and social media. In its second part, the paper analyses six real-world projects to study their social media strategies. Those examples will be used to identify best practices and reflect on the usefulness and effectiveness of various social media channels in the context of the planning projects to which they are applied.