Bridging the gap between technical and local knowledge: Tools for promoting community-based planning and design

Planners and designers have recently shown a renewed interest in community-based planning. Planning theorists have developed new paradigms arguing that they are not technical analysts but, instead, communicators who generate plans through give-and-take dialogues with the public (Innes, 1998). This paper describes several visual communication tools - including an image-based Geographical Information System (GIS), an artist, a scale model, and paper maps - that were used during participatory planning in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Building on the seminal work of Kevin Lynch in The Image of the City, the "export" team at the University of Illinois constructed an image-based GIS that provided visualization of the neighborhood. Building on the seminal work of Kevin Lynch in The Image of the City, the "expert" team at the University of Illinois constructed an image-based GIS that provided visualization of the neighborhood. The artist used these images as a basis to develop sketches that gradually revealed participants' visions. The paper closes by evaluating the employed visualization tools, discussing pros and cons of using GIS, and suggesting ways to reduce communication gaps between design professionals and community residents.