Computer support system for residential environment evaluation for citizen participation

Abstract

Though the method of citizen participation in urban planning is quite well established, for a specific segment of residential environment, however, existing participation system has not coped adequately with the issue. The specific residential environment has detailed aspects that need positive and high level involvement of the citizens in participating in all stages and every field of the plan. One of the best and systematic methods to obtain a more involved citizen is through a citizen workshop. To get a more “educated” citizen who participates in the workshop, a special session to inform the citizen on what was previously gathered through a survey was revealed to be prerequisite before the workshop. The computer support system is one of the best tools for this purpose. This paper describes the development of the computer support system for residential enviroment evaluation system, which is an essential tool to give more information to the citizens before their participation in public workshop. The significant contribution of this paper is the educational system framework involved in the workshop on the public participation system through computer support, especially for residential environment. The framework, development and application of the computer support system are described. The application of a workshop on the computer support system was commented on as very valuable and helpful by the audience as it resulted in greater benefit to have wider range of participation, and deeper level of citizen understanding.