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- 1. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Faculty of Construction and Environment Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics LSGI4321 Geo-information for Urban and Regional Studies Individual Paper 09134610d Tang Shuk Ling Topic The idea behind Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) is the empowerment and inclusion of marginalized populations, who have little voice in the public arena, through GIT and public engagement. Critically examine the applicability of PPGIS in Hong Kong. Introduction In recent years, with the development of public participation spirit and modern information technologies, Geographic Information Sciences has developed Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) to encourage public participation in public policy making processes. With the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) as interface between stakeholders, PPGIS incorporates local knowledge from the grass-root with spatial information. All in all, since the value of PPGIS is the dialogue between “humanities and technology”, PPGIS should integrate GIS technology and humanities and social science.
- 2. PPGIS The term Public Participation Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS) was first appeared at the meetings of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) in 1996. It is easy to understand that PPGIS can be divided into two parts: public participation and GIS. To begin with, Geographic Information System (GIS) is defined as a hardware/software system for the storage, management, and selective retrieval capabilities of geo-referenced data. (David, 1992) There are five components of GIS: hardware, software, data, people and method. Hardware is the computer system which would run the GIS software while GIS software would perform the functions of storing, analyzing and displaying the spatial information. ArcGIS is one of the common use GIS software. Data including spatial and non-spatial information may be the key component of GIS. The digital map is the fundamental data for GIS and the GIS would integrate the spatial with non-spatial information for future analysis. People refer to those GIS users including professionals and those people use GIS for analysis and other purposes. However, PPGIS is not just only about GIS, but also adopts participation spirit. Public participation in decision making process is very important. The inclusive participation and the devolution of decision making power are the main characteristics of public participation. Different from the traditional expert-top-down approach of GIS, local- bottom-up approach is employed with public participation. Indeed, PPGIS is a bottom-up approach through local citizens’ concerns and knowledge can be presented by utilizing GIS as a tool.(Harris et al., 1995) Not only professionals are responsible
- 3. to make decision, but also the general public or more specific group, i.e. the stakeholders. A stakeholder is defined as “an individual or group influenced by – and with an ability to significantly impact (either directly or indirectly) – the topic area of interest” (Engi and Glicken, 1995). Stakeholders should have the right to contribute their ideas and express their opinion on the authority's plan since they will be directly affected by the plan. PPGIS allows participants to share their ideas using GIS including acquiring the spatial data and perform spatial analysis such as buffering, networking, overlaying and so on. PPGIS can be used by the general public especially the stakeholders, which is very different from the traditional expert-driven GIS methodology. Increasing the power of the lower-power group (i.e. grassroots community and marginalized group) is the core idea of PPGIS: empowerment. Furthermore, one of the differences between GIS and PPGIS is that PPGIS focus much more on the “process”. In the decision making process, all stakeholders try to coordinate, cooperate and collaborate with each other through learning, communication and compromise. Finally, consensus can be achieved. Key Elements of PPGIS There are four key elements for PPGIS: participation, usability, visualization and interactivity. Doubtless, participation is one of the most important elements that affect the implementation of PPGIS. However, the technical parts of system design are also crucial to the implementation of PPGIS. Steinmann et al. (2004) argue that interactivity, usability, and visualization are the three most important sets of criteria on the basis of which PPGIS evaluations should be undertaken. Interactivity implies a response to the messages or behaviors between GIS users and the computer server (Steinmann et al. 2004). Compared with the traditional GIS
- 4. methodology, PPGIS provides participants the opportunities to express their views. The system should be able to facilitate communication and information exchange between the public and the authority instantaneously. The term ‘usability’ means the ability of a user to utilize GIS and is usually measured from the user’s point of view (O’Looney, 1997). The usability of PPGIS will affect the participation since the more usable system ensures that different people can participate in the decision making process easily. Therefore, a user-friendly PPGIS interface is one of the basic requirements for the system design. Moreover, the system design should be case-dependence and user-centered. In other words, the system should be designed based on the applied issues. It aims at allowing feasibility use for participants in order to achieve the goal of improving participation. Visualization refers to the method of interpreting the maps and data in visual terms. Good visualization makes the data and maps more readable and understandable. Visualization of 3D urban areas has been increasingly used in recent years. 3D urban visualization provides a virtual environment that a user can interact with an urban space. Therefore, visualization of 3D urban areas can be used as a communication tool in public meetings to facilitate public participation in planning and design development review. In turn, the public can provide better feedback that leads to better decision making. Doubtless, participation is a very important component of PPGIS. The idea behind PPGIS is the empowerment and inclusion of marginalized populations who have little voice on the public arena. Arnstein (1969) defines citizen participation as “the redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens, presently excluded from the political and economic processes, to be deliberately included in the future.” In
- 5. addition, Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation (Arnstein, 1969) frames the participation in terms of citizen power. The devolution of decision making power allows the grass root have the power to make decision which is good to them. It is much more different from the traditional top-down approach. PPGIS Application PPGIS has been widely used in different area including environment impact assessment, land appraisal, land reform, urban planning, and natural resource management and so on. One of the PPGIS application examples is nuclear waste disposal site selection in Britain. Steve Carver, Andy Evans and Richard Kingston (2002) from the School of Geography in University of Leeds used PPGIS to involve community members to locate a nuclear waste disposal site in Britain. It is a web- based approach, using the internet to inform the participant of the situation and the role they play in the decision making process. The users can experience in the use of GIS and digital map data to address a substantive application area. The system integrates communication between stakeholders and methodological (data handling and analytical) capabilities of GIS. PPGIS in Hong Kong Four types of institutional location for PPGIS delivery are identified: nonprofit organizations, universities, government agencies, and private companies. (Weiner et al., 2002) However, most of the PPGIS applications are implemented by government in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Public Participation Geographic Information Systems are mainly used in land use planning studies. The Planning Department (2010) has implemented PPGIS in the Feasibility Study on the Enhancement of the Lau Fau Shan Rural
- 6. Township and Surrounding Areas. Different from the conventional consultation channels, an e-engagement platform is developed to encourage public participation. The system mainly provides an interactive digital environment of satellite images/maps of Google Map overlaid with the planning concepts and proposals so that the general public could effectively and conveniently visualize the planned future of the study area. The public can easily understand the planning concepts and proposals. Thus, they can give more useful views to the proposals. This PPGIS application shows some of the key elements of PPGIS. First of all, it shows a good visualization since it visualized the proposed plan with the use of Google Map. The general public can have a better understanding of the planning and design proposals without any professional GIS skills. Furthermore, the system design is also user-friendly and the system interface is clearly classified. However, for interactivity and participation parts, there still can be some improvement for the PPGIS implementation. The system cannot facilitate a sufficient communication between the authority and the public since traditional consultation methods such as public forums and exhibitions were the main parts of the community engagement activities. Although there was an e-engagement channel, the authority and the public could not exchange information and ideas and make responses instantaneously. Thus, the participation is limited. Applicability of PPGIS in Hong Kong To examine the applicability of PPGIS in Hong Kong, several considerations should be taken account. The first thing that has to be considered is the GIS technology level and
- 7. acknowledgement in Hong Kong. Kingston (2002) asserted that in designing and implementing a PPGIS, the issues of GIS and IT understandability need to be carefully considered and addressed. As mentioned before, GIS is the main component of PPGIS. The GIS technology level in Hong Kong is adequate to implement PPGIS. However, not much many Hong Kong people really understand GIS. They may think GIS is something about maps. Actually, GIS is not only about maps but also about spatial information. This misunderstanding of GIS may hinder the development of PPGIS. Another thing should be considered is the stakeholders’ awareness of the issue. Since participation is crucial to PPGIS, stakeholders’ awareness affects the participation level. The greater the stakeholders’ awareness, the greater opportunity they participate and give feedbacks. Therefore, raising Hong Kong people’s awareness to social issues is one of the key to successful PPGIS. The stakeholders’ ability of reading map is also our consideration when implementing PPGIS. The public should have a basic map reading skill so they can utilize GIS. Generally, Hong Kong people’s ability of reading map is adequate for PPGIS implementation. They usually can recognize the location and understand the map so they can give information or comment with spatial data. However, the older generation may not be able to read map so they cannot utilize the component GIS in PPGIS. One of the main considerations is the communication between all stakeholders. One of the components of PPGIS is empowerment which means the devolution of decision of decision making process. Different people with different thinking and values have the equal rights to express their view on different issues. To achieve consensus, communication, discussion and debates are necessary. There should be enough
- 8. communication and debates for all stakeholders for PPGIS. The communication and debate should be sensible and peaceful. Otherwise, conflict among the public may be aroused even though reaching consensus on the discussed issue. Finally, the time available should be considered when implemented PPGIS. There can be a timely treatment of public input. At the beginning, there may be larger differences between different people’s cognitive and thus affect the progress. Much more time is needed for communication and debate in order to seek the contest. Afterwards, stakeholders gradually understand the stand, ideas, professional and local knowledge of each other. PPGIS may not be suitable for every land use planning issues in Hong Kong. Conclusion To conclude, with the advantages of public participation, the obstacle from the opposition can be avoided once consensus is achieved and the support from the public is increased through Public Participation Geographic Information Systems. With the use of GIS technology, even the public can more easily understand the spatial analysis and visualize the effect of the discussed issue. Therefore, it is worth for PPGIS taken place in different planning issues in Hong Kong. More academic studies and non- government organization can apply PPGIS in order to increase public participation. Reference Arnstein, S. R. (1969). A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners. David A. Hastings (1992). Geographic Information Systems: A Tool for Geoscience Analysis and Interpretation.
- 9. Engi, D. and Glicken, J. (1995). The Vital Issues Process: Strategic Planning for a Changing World, World SAND95-0845, May 1995, Albuquerque, NM: Sandia National Laboratories. Feasibility Study on the Enhancement of the Lau Fau Shan Rural Township and Surrounding Areas (2010). Retrieved June 25, 2010, from the Planning Department of HKSAR website: http://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/p_study/prog_s/LauFauShan05/area_e.html Harris, T., Weiner, D. and Levin, R. (1995). “Pursuing social goals through participatory geographic information systems: Redressing South Africa’s historical political ecology”, in Pickles, J. (ed.), Ground Truth: The Social Implications of Geographic Information Systems, New York: Guilford. Kingston, Richard (2002). The Role of e-government and Public Participation in the Planning Process. Paper presented at the XVI AESOP Congress, 10-14 July, 2002. Volos, Greece. O’Looney, John (1997). Beyond Maps: GIS and Decision Making in Local Government. Washington D.C.: International City/County Management Association. Steinmann, Renate, Alenka Krek, and Thomas Blaschke (2004). Analysis of Online Public Participatory GIS Applications with Respect to the Differences between the US and Europe. Paper published in the proceedings of Urban Data Management Symposium’04, 27-29 October, Chioggia, Italy. Steve Carver, Andy Evans and Richard Kingston (2002). Exploring environmental decision making using Internet GIS: Public participation in locating a nuclear waste disposal site. Retrieved 2002, from the University of Leeds, the Centre for
- 10. Computational Geography website: http://www.ccg.leeds.ac.uk/teaching/nuclearwaste/ Weiner, D., Harris, T. M., & Craig, W. J. (2002). Community Participation and Geographical Information Systems. CRC Press.