Visualization Technology-Mediated Civic Engagement in Community-Driven Landscape Design: An Analysis & Evaluation of Pre-Built Design Outcomes

Abstract

Engaging diverse stakeholders in decision making around the design and planning of public space is critical to building more sustainable, socially-just communities. Technology-mediated civic engagement can empower residents to interactively design the environment to meet community-specific needs which can lead to myriad positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes. This project proposes a model to evaluate the outcomes of a technology-mediated civic engagement method using a new software in the context of public space design and planning and tests the evaluative model with a case study. Visualization based decision support systems are being developed to provide non-professionals with tools to design their own landscapes. Land.Info is a decision support system that aids the design of sustainable open space by combining realistic 3D visualizations with data indicating the social, ecological and economic performance of a site that updates in real-time as users alter their design. However, at this point there is a lack of objective methods to evaluate design outcomes from these types of decision support systems (DSS). The overall aim of this practicum is to create an evaluation model to assess the potential socio-cultural impacts of pre-implementation design outcomes created using Land.info as a community-engagement open-space planning tool in a participatory setting. This paper has three main parts. The first part discusses and conceptualizes the nature of visualization and technology-mediated civic engagement. The second draws from existing evaluation models to create and explain a new model inclusive of features supporting workshop design goals. The final part discusses the value and limitations of the created evaluation model and suggests directions for further development and research.