Online Participatory Planning Tools: Principles, Goals and Implementation

Over the last few years, participatory planning practices have been vastly used and developed in Russia. However, there are certain gaps in theory and lack of reflection in this practice-oriented sphere. In this paper, we investigate basis for participatory planning, its principles, goals and implementation in online sphere. We use theoretical material and information given by experts in participatory planning field on interviews. We find that the basis for participatory planning is in the right to the city and public participation theory. We also find the main principles and goals of participatory planning. By conducting case-study analysis we show that existing online participatory tools do not follow the most important principles and goals and are characterized by low level of public participation. We suggest a concept of a tool that is based on the principles and goals of participatory planning and is characterized by the highest rung of public participation according to Arnstein’s ladder. The results of the paper may have important implications for the development of online participatory planning sphere. Keywords: right to the city, Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation, participatory planning, online tools.