OPUS forum is the name of a neighbourhood specified and Internet-based local forum for urban planning, developed in the OPUS-project. It is a knowledge building platform where local place-based knowledge, information and data are compiled, processed and shared and, where knowledge is linked to local land use planning and development projects. OPUS forums act as meeting places for formal and informal information. There are three different applications of OPUS forums: inventory forum, planning forum and development forum.
Published in Chapter:
Local Internet Forums: Interactive Land Use Planning and Urban Development in Neighbourhoods
Aija Staffans (Aalto University, Finland), Heli Rantanen (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland), and Pilvi Nummi (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 23
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-929-3.ch005
Abstract
The Internet is shaking up the expertise and production of knowledge in the planning institution. Digital citizens are searching for information from different places, combining formal and informal sources without apology, and are debating and speaking out on matters. Public planning organisations will be fully stretched to adapt their practices and services to meet these demands. This chapter will present the research results of a project that embarked on gathering and combining local information and knowledge on urban planning on Internet forums. Interactive applications were also developed for these forums to support public participation in ongoing land use planning and development projects in the City of Espoo, Finland. The research results demonstrate how fragmented local, place-based knowledge is, how difficult it is to combine informal and formal information in urban planning, and how inaccessible public data systems still are.