Planning and Social Media

Just as the technology of transportation shapes the form of

our city, the technology of communications shapes the
nature of planning and the role of the planner

Looking Forward

What will change (is changing)

1.

Wikiplans - The nature of community involvement there will

be direct involvement of the public in developing land use
policy and writing community plans using social media

2.

E-thority - In an age of information that is accessible but

lacking credibility, it will be the planners role to act as the
knowledgeable facilitator both as individuals and as a
profession

3.

Transformation There will be recognition of the three roles

of planners - technical expert/advocate, knowledgeable
facilitator and objective professional .

4.

E-Quake Social media as a political tool will change how

planning decisions are made, and continue to change, and
change.

Social Media and Planning

Characteristics of social
media useful to planning
created to be shared freely
Allows sharing and discussion of information among
human beings
user participation and user-generated content
dynamic and shareable content and social
networking
emphasis on human collaboration
allows groups to generate content and engage in
peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content

Social Media and Planning

Size of the Audience

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Social Media and Planning

Social Media the opportunity

for planning
enables communication to become interactive
dialogues shared freely among many
allows the creation and exchange of user-generated
content
a blending of technology and social interaction that
allows for unprecedented levels of engagement of
the public and interest groups in planning matters
with the heightened level of engagement will come a
shift in responsibilities, in power and in how decisions
are made

Social Media and Planning

Just as the technology of transportation shapes the

form of our city, the technology of communications
shapes the nature of planning and the role of the
planner

Social Media and Planning

Social Media and Planning

We use social media now as a means of
communication and advocacy
It is becoming a means of creativity and decision
making in planning and politics
It will alter the role of the professional planner
It will institutionalize community creativity,
problem solving, allow collaborative innovation
The planners role will change
Social Media and Planning

Wikiplans democratization of
the planning process

Official
Master
Community
Plan

Social Media and Planning

Change #1- Wikiplans

Direct community involvement in
developing plans
Facilitated by social media and supervised
by planners

Social Media and Planning

10

Saul Alinsky - community organizer

Community organizing is a process where people
who live in proximity to each other come together
into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest.
Social Media and Planning

1960s Context
"'The organizer's first job is to create the issues or
problems,' and 'organizations must be based on
many issues.' The organizer 'must first rub raw the
resentments of the people of the community; fan
the latent hostilities of many of the people to the
point of overt expression. He must search out
controversy and issues, rather than avoid them,
for unless there is controversy people are not
concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must
stir up dissatisfaction and discontent.'"

It is not that way anymore

Social Media and Planning

11

1960 - continuation of master planning

era, newspaper primary media, late 60s
cable television begins (community
television)

Survey

Analysis

Social Media and Planning

Plan

Approval

12

1970 - rise of community awareness, response

to a perceived lack of power, changed the
political landscape. Formation of regional
governments, newspapers, radio/tv as primary
information source.

Public
Meeting
Survey

Analysis

Social Media and Planning

Plan

Approval

13

14

1980 - Started with a recession.

Decade saw the end

of arms-length planning boards and institution of Councilconducted public meetings. Direct contact with the
public.

Survey

Analysis

Plan

Social Media and Planning

Public
Meeting

Approval

15

1990 Started with a recession. Late 1990 s

municipalities began providing documents and information

on-line. A watershed as a means of empowering a
community/building capacity.

Survey

Analysis

Information/
Stakeholder
Meetings

Social Media and Planning

Plan

Public
Meeting

Approval

2000 Started with a recession. In late 2000s reliance on

web-based information as integral part of the planning
process.

16
Survey

Information/
Stakeholder
Meetings

Analysis

Plan

Information/
Stakeholder
Meetings

Web-based information

Social Media and Planning

Public
Meeting

Approval

2010 - Still in a recession.

Web-based information
now is the primary source of information on formal
planning processes. Social media is beginning to move
into the mainstream of planning processes as part of
both the creative process and the decision-making
process
Information/
Survey Stakeholder Analysis
Meetings

Plan

Web-based
information

Social Media and Planning

Information/
Stakeholder
Meetings

Public
Meeting

17

Approval

The next step

Increased information
Increased involvement
Increased access to decision-making
Involvement in the whole process
This is not a new idea but the means
and mechanisms are
Charettes
Kitchen table committees
Community organizers/organizations

Social Media and Planning

18

2020 or sooner recession ends

19
Stakeholders
Blogs

Understand

Plan

Wiki-Plan
Planners
Blogs

Learn

On-line
Discussion
Groups

Web-based
Interest
communities

Social Media and Planning

Council
Public
Meeting
On-line
Public
Meeting

Approval

E-thority

In an age when information is almost

infinitely accessible, but without certifiable
authenticity, it will be an important role of
the planner to act as the knowledgeable
facilitator both as individuals and as a
profession.
The issue is trust.

Social Media and Planning

20

Over 50 years the role of the profession has

evolved to respond to changes in:
Stage of development of our cities/country
Information available to the public
Increased awareness of and interest in planning
Political response to this awareness
Survey

Learn

Analysis

Understand

Plan

Facilitate

The use of social media as a means of

community organizing and decision-making
in planning is the next logical step
Social Media and Planning

21

22

Dealing with and using social media will become a

recognized function in city hall
Social media will get real budgets and be integrated
into every planning process
Social media in planning will require planners to
contribute to and monitor the dialogues
Social media will allow issues of smaller and smaller
communities to be addressed collectively
Many municipalities will facilitate community
organization and capacity building using the web
and social media

Social Media and Planning

Some of the issues raised by use of social media

in formal processes are:
trust, veracity, authenticity
competing media, do we have to market
plans?
tendency to always have a new product
Who can you trust?
There is a potential lack of context and
balance in planning forums
More information - more experts - more
confusion - less fact = poor decisions
The risk is that the public will become less
engaged
And the profession relegated to a stakeholder
Social Media and Planning

23

The risk to planning

Like consumers generally planners today have limited attention
spans
Planners often get caught up in popular ideas that get widely
marketed by persuasive purveyors
Storefront planning in the 70 s, main street renewal in the 80 s,
strategic planning in the 90 s

24

Source - Jill Grant in Plan Canada, review of last 50 years of Plan

Canada articles

Just like architecture, interior

design or dieting, planning
has its own fashions and fads
The speed of fashion is
facilitated by the web and
social media

Social Media and Planning

 Social media provides unique networks of people who

influence us, often without knowing them
The peer group constantly shifts, depending on the
interest
Groups of people form networks of trust without a
central system controlling their behavior or directly
enforcing their compliance
When the issue has a geography many of the questions
of trust and veracity are moot
The use of social media in community planning can be
structured and authenticated
Authenticated websites through accredited
organizations who provide information and a social
media network will become important and common
This should be a major role for planning institutes in the
future.
Social Media and Planning

25

Change #3 - Transformation
A recognition of the
validity of and need for:
value-based planning with
its concomitant advocacy
the planner as an
objective professional with
policy substituting for
personal values
The planners role to
facilitate the development
of plans and planning
decisions

Social Media and Planning

26

Changing Role
Community
Design
Engineers
Landscape
Architects
Architects
Surveyors

Building/Design
To 1980

Policy
Process
Land Use
Policy

Managing
1980 - 2010

Social Media and Planning

27

Balancing
Interests
Environment
Agriculture
Transportation
Heritage
Sustainability
Housing
Urban Design
Advocate
Balance
Facilitate

Changes to the profession

Growth of experts agriculture, design, heritage,
environment, transportation, sustainability, climate
change, health
Change in approach experts are not objective
they advocate based on their expertise and values
The general planner now has an even greater role of
balancing interests both within and outside of the
profession
There will be three major roles for planners advocate
experts, knowledgeable facilitators and the traditional
role of balancing interests

Social Media and Planning

28

E-Quake

Social Media and Planning

29

30

Politicians need the community to be organized,

it makes their job easier
Using social media poses many of the same
questions of veracity and authenticity that are
common in the political world

Social Media and Planning

31

Social Media and Planning

32

Social Media and Planning

Planning decisions - political

decisions
There will be changes in the way political decisions are made and
thus also planning decisions
Planning will be conducted on smaller and smaller scales with direct
contact/communication with those affected
A continuation of a 50 year trend
In organizations small enough to be flexible and directly accountable
to a community:
citizens can access the same information that planners provide politicians
planners and politicians can be in direct contact with citizens who want to
be involved - the barriers of time and geography disappear
verification will still be needed, a face-to-face meeting or some form of
direct contact, possibly just e-thentication
If communities can be identified the political response is to recognize them
and in doing so empower them
The ground will be constantly shifting we will live in an e-quake
Social Media and Planning

33

To summarize
1.

Wikiplans - Direct involvement of the public in

developing land use policy and writing
community plans

2.

E-thority - The planners role will be to act as the

knowledgeable facilitator both as individuals
and as a profession

3.

Transformation- All planners are not objective.

There will be a recognition of the validity of the
planner as a technical expert/advocate.

4.

E-Quake- Social media has become a political

tool it will impact how planning decisions are
made

Social Media and Planning

34

35

What should we do
Consider changing the institutionalized concept
of the planners role and function
Establish our collective ethenticity
Enjoy the ride

Social Media and Planning

36

Thank You
If you wish a copy email me

bob@lehmanplan.ca

Social Media and Planning

37

Change the Definition

the scientific, aesthetic and orderly disposition of land,
resources, facilities and services with a viewto securing the
physical, economic, and social efficiency, health and well
being of urban and rural communities.

Social Media and Planning