A look at City Planning processes in the City of Toronto from the perspective of Urban Planning activists. Analysis of communications issues and solutions using Knowledge, Media Design Tools.

1. City
Planning
and
Ci,zen
Par,cipa,on
Ins,ga,ng
Ques,on
How
do
‘planning-­‐ac,vist’
ci,zens
meaningfully
engage
with
City
Planning
bureaucracies
+
planning
processes
in
Toronto?
For:
University
of
Toronto,
Master
of
Informa,on
Science.
KMD1001
Fall
2012
Design
Brief
Michelle
Gay
(michellegay.com)
mail@michellegay.com

2. City
Planning
and
Ci,zen
Par,cipa,on
Ins,ga,ng
Ques,on
How
do
‘planning-­‐ac,vist’
ci,zens
meaningfully
engage
with
the
City
Planning
bureaucracies
+
planning
processes
in
Toronto?
Michelle
Gay

3. •
area
of
study:
West
Queen
West
Triangle
-­‐
Toronto
•
re-­‐zoned
a
Regenera'on
area
by
City
of
Toronto
in
~2005
•
6
independent
developers
bought
up
all
the
con'guous
parcels
of
land
(9
parcels)
•
no
collabora'on
on
a
seamless
site
plan
for
the
area
•
the
beloved
48
Abell,
an
old
warehouse
full
of
ar,sts
studios
•
Carnegie
library
was
being
underused
•
the
en,re
ward
was
‘under-­‐
parked’
–
not
enough
green/
open
space

4. •
Development
proposals
were
out
of
scale
with
the
rest
of
the
neighbourhood

5. •
two
words:
bohemian
embassy
Their
marke,ng
campaign:
“One
of
the
first
condominium
projects
in
the
new
West
Queen
West
community
in
downtown
Toronto,
Bohemian
Embassy
was
branded
as
the
ul$mately
“cool”
address.”
•
this
sen,ment
exposed
the
disconnect
between
an
exis,ng
crea,ve,
cultural
and
produc,ve
communi,es
–
living
and
working
in
the
area
for
decades….
And
the
private
developers.
• And
it
seems
that
the
ball
was
dropped
by
the
ward
Councillor
and
city
Planning
department
was
overworked
and
understaffed

6. This
disconnect
spurred
the
community
into
ac'on:
How
do
‘planning-­‐ac,vist’
ci,zens
meaningfully
engage
with
the
planning
processes
in
Toronto?
FORM
A
GROUP
|
LEARN
ABOUT
CITY
PLANNING
|
PRESSURE
THE
CITY

7. using
KMD
thinking
to
map
out
this
problem:
2.
Knowledge,
Media,
Design
2.
Can
we
use
1.
Exis'ng
process
of
1.
Exis,ng
*
theory
KMD
analysis
Planning
and
and
tools
to
Prac,ce
*
frameworks
review
the
engagement
is
full
of
problem
and
*
methodologies
develop
holes,
gaps
and
large
poten'al
issues.
solu'ons?
3.
New
Prac,ce

8. using
KMD
thinking
to
map
out
this
problem:
2.
Knowledge,
Media,
Design
1.
Exis,ng
*
theory
Prac,ce
*
frameworks
*
methodologies
3.
New
Prac,ce
Can
this
new
solu'on
be
serialized
and
shared
with
other
communi'es?s

9. Concept
Map
of
City
Planning
Processes.
Coagulate
into
4
areas.

10. Red
Zone:
exis,ng
city
processes.
These
include
Area,
Master
and
Official
plans.
Many
other
tools
and
opinions
used
by
myriad
of
departments
which
knit
into
the
planning
process
(transporta,on,
roads,
services).
We
have
unelected
city
staff
running
these
departments,
who
ogen
see
ci,zens
with
opinions,
as
a
pain.
There
are
exis,ng
city
protocols
–
such
as
Community
council,
where
ci,zens’
opinions
can
be
heard.
Official
city
run
Community
Consulta'ons
and
Public
mee'ngs
–
where
the
city
sends
out
no,ces
and
invites
ci,zens
to
‘consult’.

11. Green
Zone:
ci,zens’
desire
to
reach
into
the
centre
of
the
city
planning
process
–
but
the
MOAT
of
bureaucracy
makes
this
very
difficult.
Many
ci,zens
groups
organize
their
own
public
mee,ngs.
Case
study:
ac've18
community
organiza'on,
–
a
number
of
public
charrehes
were
organized
–
around
Urban
Design,
Park
and
Public
spaces,
and
North
triangle
planning
–
all
open
and
public
mee'ngs
where
ci'zens
were
encouraged
to
dream
and
think
big
thoughts
about
how
to
beher
develop
this
area.
These
were
mee,ngs
where
ci,zens
could
ar,culate
complex
community
visions
and
where
knowledge
could
be
shared.

12. Blue
Zone:
is
a
catchall
area
for
Radical
ReDesign
of
City
planning
processes:
It
contains
ideas
like
–
A)
the
Ethics
of
Design;
B)
how
to
insert
ci,zen
par,cipa,on
in
earlier
points
on
the
development
path;
C)
Funding
for
ci,zen’s
groups
to
do
these
visioning
projects;
D)
a
way
of
inser,ng
“Non-­‐Expert”
voices
into
the
process;
E)
how
to
make
transparent
the
city
planning
process;
F)
offering
tools
for
visioning
and
collabora,on;
G)
and
a
way
of
changing
the
development
,melines
to
work
on
an
idea
,meline
instead
of
financial
,meline.

13. Orange
Zone:
City
Communica'ons
+
consulta'ons
-­‐
looking
at
the
way
the
City
believes
they
are
including
Ci'zens’
voices
into
their
process.
The
issues:
A)
printed
maher
sent
to
neighbourhoods
are
narrow
cast.
B)
The
designs
of
the
missives
are
bureaucra'c
and
uninvi'ng.
C)
The
designs
make
people
feel
like
they
need
to
be
experts
in
Planning
or
Architecture
D)
mostly
that
by
the
,me
the
city
sends
out
a
missive,
most
people
think
decisions
have
been
made.

15. Puts
ci,zens
in
IDEA
SHARING
REACTIVE
STATE
not
COLLABORATIVE
CITY:
Community
Consulta'ons
STATE
CITIZENS:
Charrebes
at
early
design
Ci'zens
do
not
trust
City
processes
stages
City
departments
do
not
trust
Ci'zens
Ci,zens
CONSCIOUSLY
SELF
ORGANIZE.
PROBLEMS:
IDEAL
GOAL
• Funding
1. Beber
Urban
Plan
+
Livable
City
• Resources
• No
Authority
2. Beber
communica'ons
process
between
City
planners,
Developers
BENEFITS:
and
Ci'zens
• Engaged
ci'zen
groups
SPECIFIC
GOAL
share
gathered
knowledge
•
Small
advances
in
city
plan
if
enough
pressure
Is
felt
by
elected
officials
1. 101
Guide
to
Understanding
Urban
Planning
2. Infographics
explaining
Planning
Processes
3. Thesaurus
of
Controlled
Language
–
Architecture,
Planning,
Policy
terms
4. Redesign
of
City
Communica'ons
Missives
5. Cultural
Master
Plan
to
accompany
the
area
plan

16. How
to
deliver?
Must
be
updatable;
online;
printable
maher?
KMD
applica'on…
Should
be
updatable;
online;
printable
maher;
animated?
1. ‘101’
Understanding
Urban
Planning
2. Infographics
explaining
Planning
Must
be
updatable;
Processes
delivered
online;
mobile
for
use
in
public
3. Thesaurus
of
shared
and
controlled
mee'ngs;
printable
Language
–
Architecture,
Planning,
maber?
Policy
terms
Re-­‐Design
Templates
and
Suggested
Graphical
Standards
Manuals?
4. Redesign
of
City
Communica'ons
Communica,ons
Processes
Missives
reviewed
and
reworked.
5. Cultural
Master
Plan
to
accompany
Online
updatable;
ebook;
Print
book
the
Area
plans

17. 1. 101
Guide
to
Understanding
Urban
Planning
2. Infographics
explaining
Planning
Processes
3. Thesaurus
of
Controlled
Language
–
Architectural,
Planning,
Engineering,
Policy
terms
4. Redesign
of
City
Communica'ons
Missives
5. Cultural
Master
Plan
to
accompany
the
area
plan
Thesaurus
will
be
an
object
for
building
literacy
for
ci'zens
to
help
them
engage
in
planning
processes

18. Methods
and
Challenges
for
working
on
this
KM
Design
applica'on:
1. Look
at
other
city
models
–
how
do
they
engage
ci,zens.
2. Study
how
they
use
language,
how
do
they
communicate
to
ci,zens?
3.
What
models
of
par'cipatory
processes
work
best
for
groups
with
varying
exper,se
levels?
4.
What
tools
are
employed?
Sketchup
for
Massing
Studies?
Help
to
learning
the
language
of
massing.
Photography/video
for
studying
use
of
space,
light,
texture
and
materiality?
5.
How
do
we
move
toward
the
concept
of
the
Professional
Ci'zen:
the
highly
engaged,
civic
minded,
‘non-­‐experts’,
who
bring
other
exper,se
to
the
process?

19. Methods
and
Challenges
for
working
on
this
KM
Design
applica'on:
I
will
use
the
matrix
of
‘cultural
theory’
models
put
forward
by
the
‘Messy
Research
/
Clumsy
Solu'ons’
paper.
(Ney
&
Verweij)
How
would
one
incorporate
the
cultural
theories
of
egalitarianism,
Individualism,
fatalism
and
“the
hermit”
concepts
that
they
propose
-­‐
into
a
staunch
hierarchical
model
(that
the
city
seems
to
use).
What
happens
if
you
combine
the
Design
Thinking
and
Par'cipatory
Ac'on
Research
models?
Will
use
the
work
of
Ac,ve18
Community
Associa,on
as
the
‘empirical’
study
to
look
at
the
‘cultural
theory
‘
within
their
matrix.

20. Projects
to
date
by
Ac,ve18
Community
Organiza,on
Purpose
built
36,000
sq
g
Theatre
Centre
.4
hectare
park
Media
Art
~
96
Ar,st
Owned
Moving
to
purpose
Underground
wired
Centre
below-­‐Market
value
Renovated
Carnegie
For
digital
media
with
cinema
Live-­‐work
studios
Library
Art
works

21. Some
Ques'ons:
Is
a
Mul,-­‐Media
based
Thesaurus
(language,
video,
graphical
objects)
a
good
focus
for
a
KMD
applica,on?
Are
there
other
applica,ons
that
make
more
sense
than
–
web,
anima,ons,
mobile
app,
printed
maher,
ebook?
Is
focusing
on
the
shared
language
a
place
that
could
actually
be
used
to
empower
ci,zens?
Will
this
inch
us
towards
empowering
ci,zens
to
become
engaged
in
a
seemingly
blackbox
process?
What
would
make
you
get
involved
in
city
planning?