Architecture Papers of the Faculty of Architecture and Design STU (Nov 2020)
Open planning: Qualification of urban space parameters from end user’s perspective
Abstract
Humanity has entered an unprecedented era in the 21st century. The urban population is ahead of the rural one (World Bank, Urban Population Ratio, 2015), and for the first time we are becoming a predominantly urban species. Population growth, accelerated movement, and the related changes in the environment are testing the applicability of existing tools for planning and creating a quality city. These changes have accelerated significantly with the advent of the digital age. The system of power and control has thus moved from the physical to the virtual world (Towsend, Smart Cities, 2014). However, the system of the planning, which remains local, is not sufficiently reflecting these changes. With rapid economic and population growth, and the growing importance of informatization, it is appropriate to respond much more flexibly to current data and consider it in the planning of an area’s development and transformation. New approaches to planning should take into account empirical knowledge, but at the same time work with modern technologies and approaches brought about by Industrial Revolution 4.0. This paper focuses on analysing the development of planning under the circumstances of accelerated change, and endeavours to outline the possibility of creating a digital index of user quality of the environment by analyzing data from participatory geographically localized questionnaires (emotional maps). Finally, the paper outlines the framework of open planning, which builds on the hypothesis that data can be integrated into a comprehensive urban planning tool that allows more flexible planning based on the measurability of the urban environment.
