Spatial decision support for collaborative land use planning workshops

This article describes a series of collaborative land use planning workshops for a peat-meadow polder in the Netherlands. Three interconnected planning workshops were conducted with stakeholders: a design, analysis and negotiation workshop. Stakeholders were invited to work together and carry out planning tasks using spatial decision support tools implemented in an interactive instrument (the 'Touch table'). Goals, participants, tasks and tools were different for each workshop. The series began with a design workshop, in which stakeholders used drawing tools on the Touch table in order to transfer and process local knowledge. Next, in an analysis workshop, stakeholders used spatial multicriteria tools to combine different types of expert knowledge and generate feedback for quantitatively evaluating land use scenarios for the polder. The series ended with a negotiation workshop, where stakeholders used interactive land use allocation tools collectively on the Touch table to reach a consensus land use plan for the polder. Results from surveys conducted at the end of each workshop indicated that participants found the tools appropriate for a workshop setting. It is concluded that digital maps can be used effectively to support three different types of collaborative planning workshops that are a part of an ongoing land use planning process. Important aspects in the design of the workshops included the selection of participants, level of detail and complexity of spatial information provided and a balanced formulation of workshop assignments. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.