New article: Urban design as a democratic process

Collaborative urban development in Mannheim

Arbeitsgruppe im Freien
© Marcus Jeutner

Whether it is a matter of traffic planning, neighbourhood development or densification, the importance of citizen participation is essential for successful urban development. Unfortunately, the opportunities for participation in formal participatory processes are not always fully realised. As a result, public attention and criticism often only arise when planning procedures are at an advanced stage and can hardly be reversed. And so, the citizens sense that their voice is not being heard, feeling ignored by 'politics'.

Targeting frequently underrepresented groups and employing the co-creative method of Urban Design Thinking are two quite successful approaches to counteracting this, as the experience of the city of Mannheim over the past five years has shown.

Helke Wendt-Schwarzburg from inter 3 and her co-authors provide an account of this issue in the article "Migrants4Cities in Mannheim. Collective urban design as a democratic process", which has just been published in the vhw's Forum Housing and Urban Development.

Tags

Housing and Urban Development Forum 6/2021

Project description

Migrants4Cities - implementation, stabilization, transfer