The city of Hamburg is one of the winners of this year's Geospatial World Excellence Awards for its Digital Participation System (DIPAS).
Launched in 2017, DIPAS is a research and
development project that uses map-based tools to encourage citizen
participation in urban planning and development. According to an
article on Geospatial World, citizens can submit online
comments, suggestions and questions on the city's urban development
plans by means of digital data tables. These so-called touch tables
can even be used at events to present complex urban material in a
user-friendly manner, which helps to facilitate discussions between
laypeople and experts.
According to the article, the online tool has been used in 38
participation processes and in 4 online processes, receiving
positive feedback from the public and civil servants alike for its
positive communiciative effects as well as its technical
capabilities. In addition, it has won praise for offering shorter,
better and more transparent planning processes, resulting in
greater acceptance of development projects, shorter planning times
and lower planning costs.
As it is based on an open source philosophy, the system can be adapted to other cities.
