Online participation is an important addition to our range of participation tools. Not only since face-to-face events had to be cancelled and postponed due to the pandemic. We therefore offer a digital opportunity for participation in addition to planning workshops, idea workshops and the like. The search for the right tool was not easy, so we would like to share our experiences with you.
Who hasn’t experienced it – rules of conduct are not always followed on the Internet. This can also be observed in many digital participation portals with message board character, be it the lack of respect for others’ opinions or racist and discriminatory statements. In an event, moderation would intervene, but in an online forum, sufficient support would be very time-consuming and usually too expensive. In addition, complaints often predominate in the digital realm. Of course, knowing about existing problems is important for open space planning. But in our participation processes, we also want to tease out the qualities of a location and ideas for its transformation from the participating citizens.
So how can we reduce unobjective statements to a minimum in the digital space and emphasize the positive? We have found a good solution with a map-based online tool: Maptionnaire.
In participatory open space design, we often work with plans, aerial photos and maps. With online mapping, this can also be done digitally. Maptionnaire is, so to speak, a hybrid between questionnaire an interactive map. Participants can position their questionnaire answers spatially on an adjacent map, an aerial photograph or a concept. In addition to points, paths and entire areas can also be marked. Due to the precise location reference, we receive mostly factual and topic-related answers when working with Maptionnaire. Of course, other question options can also be built into the questionnaire: it is possible to vote on options, hierarchize them, formulate your own ideas, and upload photos. Participants are automatically guided through the questionnaire. And answering the questions is also very intuitive.
For us as an office, it is of course important to obtain results that we can continue to work with after the participation. This is easy with Maptionnaire, the results are immediately illustrated spatially with the geodata obtained. This way, they can be easily evaluated and integrated into the planning process. Depending on the questionnaire design, however, the evaluation can be more or less time-consuming. For example, open-ended questions often yield more information, but also require a lot of time to process. So here we have to balance things out.
What else do we need for an online mapping to be successful? As many and diverse participants as possible. Therefore, low-threshold access is important. With Maptionnaire, neither registration nor downloading an app is necessary; the tool works via smartphone, tablet or even on the PC via the browser. We can therefore draw attention to the participation opportunity with links in project newsletters and on websites, advertising in social media channels and also via QR codes on posters and flyers.
The opportunity to participate over a period of usually one to two months is not tied to a specific date and therefore also appeals to citizens who would otherwise not take part in participation events, e.g. because they are looking after their children or work shifts. Silent groups who do not wish to speak in plenary sessions also contribute their ideas in online mapping. For some time now, we have been supplementing on-site participation with online mapping in order to reach younger target groups. They are often underrepresented in face-to-face events.
With Maptionnaire, we reached and surveyed more than 850 people within six weeks for our development concept for the Flughafensee in Berlin. From the many tips, we created so-called heat maps to see where things are “hot” at the lake. The evaluation shows that the greatest need for action is perceived in the areas of littering and nature conservation. The upgrading of specific favourite places is also important to the users. Based on the mapping results, we developed a concept together with the responsible authorities that reconciles the needs of the respondents and the concerns of nature conservation.
As part of the development of a street tree concept, we asked citizens about the street trees in Bielefeld. We received so much detailed information that a representation in maps and diagrams would only have been possible with a loss of information. We therefore made the results available online with the help of uMap, a map tool from OpenStreetMap. You can see the results here.
In close cooperation with Maptionnaire, we also train ourselves on current trends in citizen participation. To do this, we participate in webinars and exchange ideas in face-to-face meetings. In the summer, we had Kirsi Forss, the senior consultant and D-A-CH representative of Maptionnaire from Helsinki, visit us in Berlin.
Open space design can succeed especially well when all those affected by the planning are involved. Online participation with Maptionnaire has become an important building block for us.