ECTP Young Planners Workshop 2015

ECTP Young Planners Workshop 2015
11th Biennial of European Towns and Town Planners/Dublin October 2015
E-GOVERNANCE AND SPATIAL PLANNING DECISION-MAKING

I.- Introduction.

I.1 Young Planners Workshop:an ECTP-CEU project
ECTP-CEU (the European Council of Spatial Planners - Conseil Européen des Urbanistes), founded in 1985, brings together 40 000
spatial planners with 27 professional town planning associations and institutes from 25 European countries. It is an umbrella association providing its members with a common framework for planning practice, planning education, continuing professional development and the definition of professional responsibilities.
ECTP-CEU sets standards of education and conduct for the planning profession; identifies, celebrates and rewards examples of good planning all over Europe, and engages in dialogue with local, national and European government.
In accordance with these objectives the initiative of the workshop  Young Planners Workshop on seeks to set out young planners perspectives and experiences in frame of new European cities paradigms of lack of economic funds.

I.2.- A project shared with 11th Biennial of European Towns and Town Planners Dublin October 15th to 16th 2015

Young Planners Workshop is a project shared with 11th Biennial of European Towns and Town Planners to be held on the 15&16 October 2015 in Dublin under the general title Making Cities Work Technology in Planning Practice includes four sub-thematic areas: 
a) Information and Communication Technologies; 
b) Urban Mobility; 
c) City Leadership and Governance; 
d) Mapping and information systems. 
(further information: www-biennialdublin2015.com)

The Biennial has planned a specific session for ECTP young planners workshop focusing on the topic of E-governance and spatial planning decision-making.

ECTP Young Planners Workshop as complementary activity of the Biennial aims to carry out during the months April-October a workshop “online”. Our aim is to have the opportunity to discuss in depth the projects presented in order to enrich final presentations in Dublin. The final papers selected will be published in the post-Biennial e-book.

ECTP/XI Biennial organization encourages young planners throughout Europe to exchange experiences in European urban and regional challenges. For that, XI Biennial organization offers reduced admission fees for young planners workshops and ECTP also offers some contribution towards travel expenses.

II.- Project description. E-governance and spatial planning: youth and planning decision-making

This Workshop aims to raise societal and political engagement of people and specially youth in decision-making in planning processes by means geo-information and Information and communications technology (ICT):

• Assess how new technologies can be used to engage people in the advocacy planning process 
• Advocacy planning as a way to increase young involvement in public decision-making processes on issues of their everyday life and quality of life.

The 2013 Charter of European Planning promoted by the European Council of Spatial Planners, a partner in this proposal and institution gathering national planning agencies, underlines the
importance of community involvement through active networks of citizens (https://www.ectp ceu.eu/). In order to achieve this, active stakeholders need to get new forms of access to information concerning planning and local decisions, mainly geospatial information (Luukkonen, 2014). 
This is a crucial instrument to raise the points of view of different social agents in debates accompanying public sector and local authority decision-making processes. Establishing youth voice in advocacy planning processes will contribute to real social and political engagement and a meaning participation in shaping the future of their living environment.

In a similar way, the EC White Paper on Urban Policy, Cities of Tomorrow. Challenges, visions, ways forward (2011) expresses the opinion that there are opportunities to turn the threats into positive challenges, for example, sustainable local economies are more competitive when the local social participation, including youth participation, is intense and helps to the local economic tissue and develops a pattern of inclusive economy. New forms of urban governance may emerge to respond to this challenge, based on citizen empowerment and participation of all relevant stakeholders, especially young people as they can bring the most innovative uses of social capital. The involvement of city residents is crucial to the success of many urban policies, if they are directly linked to advocacy planning and empowerment through access to geo-information. 

The Joint Report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010 - 2018) recognizes that the participation of young people in democratic life is central to youth policy as well as employment and entrepreneurship, education and social inclusion.

A Spatial Citizen is a role that each and every citizen should accept. In order to fully participate in society a spatially literate person should be able to interpret and critically reflect on spatial representations, communicate with the aid of maps and other spatial representations, and can express location-specific opinions using geomedia.

Thus, spatial communications is considered as an integral part of spatial citizenship and therefore a main target for young education and young policies. Interaction between individuals and groups about places and spaces is a fundamental requirement for a democratic
society. (De Miguel&Carl Sonert Eurogeox) Local and regional policies have been influenced by the thrust of civil society and the participation of citizens directly affected by the decisions of local authorities in many aspects, such as: urban environment and sustainability, housing, transportation, preservation of green spaces and cultural heritage, access to culture, social and sport facilities, reduction of nuisances, location of activity zones, energy consumption, resource management, etc.

The use of geo-information and geospatial technologies contributes to the development of new forms of engagement such as through the use of digital geo-media inter alia and creative practice Advocacy planning benefits from an interdisciplinary approach that helps ordinary people to become involved in creating better places to live in, to solve public issues and challenges, to transform their local environment and to make possible the community change through the active participation in public decision-making processes (Besussi, 2013; Guy, 2012).

The University of California, Berkely has contributed to the issue with Y-Plan, creating toolkits for engaging youth in urban planning and social engagement. In Europe, there is a real lack of projects on this topic, and of course, no unified leadership to drive those initiatives.

Some innovative actions integrating geo-information, advocacy planning and youth social and political engagement have been implemented in several cities of the United States with the support of the American Planning Association, National League of Cities and Youth Councils. (De Miguel&Carl Sonert Eurogeox).

In communities where young people are involved in shaping policies that affect their lives as well as the lives of others, they work with a common purpose to build the civic infrastructure and serve a potent role in crafting a vision. They advance the genuine participation of youth for positive change. The community benefits immediately when young adults assert their rights to participatory democracy. Young people are able to overcome the barriers to engagement by building local communities, with the creative use of new social technologies, defining groups of social participation through geo-communication. (De Miguel&Carl Sonert Eurogeox).

This Workshop aims to promote an expansion of the concept of eplanning impacting on planners, policy makers, advisors and consultants. It involves the application of geospatial technologies for the benefit of shaping local communities taking the practices of local citizens as the starting point. 

Particularly is focused on engaging youth in meaningful participation in plan-making and planning decisions. It acknowledges that plans must be produced. Secondly, they must be produced at the required levels of governance and third, they must be relevant and meaningful in the sense of actually contributing to the aims and goals of the respective policy. They are not merely symbolic documents. 

Advocacy planning is the foundation for all progressive planning today. It is relevant because it allows us to distinguish between progressive community planning and the generic community planning (https://www.partizipation.at/advocacy-planning.html).

III. Workshop format

III.1 Working on line

a) Two audio-meetings are foreseen for comments and questions in order to enrich the final presentations and conclusions.
b) The blog will be the main tool of work. Abstracts, papers comments and answers will be downloaded after each presentation.

III.2.- Final presentations at Dublin/ Conclusions
The Final papers will be presented in Dublin on 15th October 2015.
A follow-up session will be held for conclusions.

III.3.-Publication of an E-book is foreseen with papers selected for publication.

IV.-Rules for Admissions

A) Projects led by young people aged less than 35 years. In the group at least half of them must be under 35 years.

C) Projects can be presented by individual submission or by groups of up to five participants maximum.

D) Maximum number of participants: 30 people

E) Submissions should include names of participants, -short CVe-mails and current professional situation. Abstracts have to be sent along with submissions.

D) Deadline for submissions 
Submissions should be sent before 15th March 2015 to be selected. (ignaciopeman@futurnet.es).

E) Deadline for selection of abstracts
Submissions will be selected before 1st April 2015

F) Guidelines for abstracts/submissions: [author’s name; short title abstract; font size Arial 10, 1 page/300 words maximum; with no images; all abstract submissions should be made in electronic form, identifying the software format used (pdf compatible); do not use any footnotes; reference format “Harvard style”; language abstracts should be submitted in English; by submission, organization have all authors’ rights and full permission to publish abstracts]

V.- Rules for Papers/Final presentation

Papers for Final presentations in Dublin will have to meet the following requirements:
Author’s name; short title paper; font size Arial 10; max 12 pages plus images and abstract; all projects should be made in electronic form, identifying the software format used (pdf compatible); do not use any footnotes; reference format “Harvard style”; papers should be submitted in English at submission, the organization having all authors’ rights and full permission to publish selected communications]

VI.- Economic support/Grants

VI.1.- XI Biennial.
Reduced admission fees at 11th Biennial of European Towns and Town Planners

VI.2 ECTP grants/ For travelling expenses
Economic support will be given according to the following criteria and personal features:

a) First time participants will receive up to 200 Euros per person 

b) Second time participants will receive up to 125 Euros per person.

c) Priority: Students and long distance visitors 
Deadline for distribution of grants: 20th March 20015

VII.- ECTP Young Planners workshop Staff

Young Planners workshop
Chair/coordinator 
Ignacio Pemán ECTP
ignaciopeman@futurnet.es

Assistants
Jonathan Manns.
jon.manns@gmail.com

Beatriz Santos.
bss2430@hotmail.com

ECTP Staff
Dominique Lancrenon ECTP Secretary General
dominique.lancrenon@anteagroup.com

Julian Hill ECTP Secretariat
secretariat@ectp-ceu.eu

XI Biennial Organizing Committee

Brendan Allen, Local Organizing Committee Chair: b.allen@ipi.ie
John Shanahan, Local Organizing Committee: j.shanahan@ipi.ie

Annex.- Phases
I.-Workshop on line (April-September)
1.- First Stage
b) Presentations of abstracts Abstracts will be shared so that all the groups know what the other groups are proposing to facilitate discussions and suggestions.
Meeting: Audio conference (go to meeting system)
Date: 15th of April 2015

b)Deadline for sending of comments .
Comments wbe sent by e-mail in order to enrich Papers.
Date: Up to 1st May 2015

2.-Second Stage
a).- Presentation of Papers.
Participants will present first draft of papers/power point.
Meeting: Audio conference (5-10 minutes per group)
Date: 1h June 2015

b).- Sending of comments and suggestions.
In order to improve Final papers participants will send
comments or suggestions.
Date: Up to 1st July 2015

3.- Third Stage
Final Papers.
Final Papers will be sent according to suggestions and
comments received.
Date: up to 25th September

II.- Presentations at Dublin Biennial.
Papers will be presented at the 11th Biennial of European Towns and Town Planners.
Participants will present papers in a critical session with ECTP memberships

Meeting: Dublin
Date: 15th October 2015

III.- Publications of the e-book
An e-book will be published with papers selected for publication (October-December 2015)

January 2015, ECTP-CEU.