Micro-Course in Communicative Planning for Urban Mobility
Participatory and collaborative planning processes often evoke strong feelings among urban and urban mobility planners. Participation processes are perceived as resource-intensive and slow, and the outcome of the public engagement is regarded not necessarily to be in line with the rather extensive participation process. Nevertheless, it comes down to choosing the right tools, defining the objectives for gathering data, and ultimately crystallizing the added value – or the insights – that can only be established by involving a broad audience in the planning process.
The Micro-Course in Communicative Planning for Urban Mobility presents different approaches to, cases, and applications of communicative urban mobility planning. Collaborative and participatory planning practices are offered as one solution to solve planning challenges in a complex stakeholder network and to ensure the best quality outcome. Communicative planning practices are not new to urban, urban mobility, and transportation planning, but implementing these practices still raises many questions. One of the key aims of this course is to empower and motivate you to explore different collaborative and participatory planning practices and use them in your work.
Key topics:
- Overview of planning concepts and policies
- Background and context for current planning processes and paradigms
- Tools and methodologies for collaboration and participation
- Case examples of community engagement and participatory planning processes
This course is conducted in collaboration with Aalto University Lifewide Learning and EIT Urban Mobility Academy.
This online course is designed to support independent study optimally. Course contents and methods, and tools are hand-picked to be applied in your working environment.
The course is built with faculty members from the Aalto University Department of Built Environment, industry professionals, and public sector representatives.
Research in collaborative and participatory planning urban planning processes has a long tradition at the Aalto University Department of Built Environment, and several academic articles have been published on this matter. They are combining the faculty know-how guarantees relevant, high-quality content and impactful learning experiences.
Benefits
This course is based on the understanding that successful and sustainable urban mobility planning should be done in collaboration with citizens and communities, city officials, private businesses, and other stakeholders. With the help of our course faculty, we will give you an understanding of the context and the world in which we operate, as well as some of the challenges that planners face. We will investigate the role of policy and decision-makers and look at different tools and methodologies for collaboration and participation. Case examples will be shared to help you to understand how the tools apply to real planning cases.
- Understand the complexity and context of the operational environment that planners work in and learn about policymaking and its impact on urban mobility planning
- Gain confidence while working in a VUCA world
- Identify planning challenges and learn to select the right tools to tackle them
- Define the right ways to engage with social media from a planning point of view
- Reflect on your own work and identify pain points in communicative planning practices
- Apply communicative and participatory planning tools to your own projects and make your engagement processes smoother and more successful
For
This course is built for urban mobility and transportation professionals, urban planners, and other professionals in public and private sectors working in the field of urban mobility and transportation planning at any stage of their career.
Contents and Schedule
The course consists of interactive video lectures, reflective knowledge checks, and the Echo Teams, which offer a unique insight into communicative planning processes. The Echo Teams are not a compulsory part of the course, but we highly recommend you use this tool and arrange Echo Team meetings with your peers, teams, or colleagues from your work community to reflect on your learning and receive feedback.
The language of the course is English, and all videos include English subtitles. You can complete the course flexibly at your own pace.
The estimated study time of the course is 10 hours and learners have access to the course materials for three months. You can complete the course flexibly at your own pace. We recommend that you schedule your studies and complete around one module per 1-2 weeks.
- Module 1 – Planning Concepts and Policy
- Module 2 – Planning Practices
- Module 3 – Data Gathering and Engagement Tools
- Module 4 – Case Study: Walkable Helsinki
Study Modules
Module 1: Planning Concepts and Policy
Contents
- Introduction to planning paradigms
- Understanding policy and policy making
- Identifying policy tools and instruments
- Grasping different power dynamics and interests in the stakeholder network
- Advantages and challenges of public participation
Instructor
Dominic Stead, Professor, Land Use and Transport Planning, Department of Built Environment, Aalto University
Module 2: Planning Processes
Contents
- Introduction to VUCA
- Organizational learning
- Systems thinking
- Knowledge creation in planning processes
- Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans
Instructor
Miloš Mladenović, Assistant Professor, Transportation Engineering, Department of Built Environment, Aalto University
Module 3: Data Gathering and Engagement Tools
Contents
- Defining objectives for community engagement
- Introduction of different participation tools and their applications
- Case: Maptionnaire as a tool for data gathering
- Social media in participatory planning processes
- Role of planners in moderating digital participation
Instructors
Maarit Kahila-Tani, CEO, Maptionnaire by Mapita
Pilvi Nummi, Post-doctoral researcher, Department of Built Environment, Aalto University
Module 4: Case Walkable Helsinki
Introduction to the Walkable Helsinki project. The project acts as an example of a successful public participation process that resulted in improving the walkability of the inner-city areas of Helsinki.
Instructor
Henna Hovi, Urban Planner, Traffic Systems Department, City of Helsinki
Instructors
Henna Hovi
Henna Hovi is an urban planner and is currently working in the City of Helsinki Traffic Systems unit.
In the past, she has worked as a research assistant in Aalto University Real Estate Economics Department and as a planner in Strategic Land Use Planning at the City of Helsinki. She has a background in geography and planning.
As a planner she focuses on all things strategic – whether the scale is an individual street or the whole city. Walkability, bikeability and sustainable human-centered mobility in cities are Henna’s areas of expertise. As well as being in charge of making the first pedestrian strategy for the City of Helsinki, her projects have included street pilots, like the summer streets we saw alongside Kasarmitori in 2020, and cycling planning, including an EU project called Handshake through which Helsinki seeks to learn best practices from Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
In the future, Henna wants to learn more about how to use temporary measures in strategic planning to improve the walking and cycling conditions in cities and what solutions work when we are striving for long-term change.
Maarit Kahila-Tani
Maarit Kahila-Tani is the CEO and co-founder of Mapita, the company behind Maptionnaire, and works in the domain of community engagement tools for urban planners and city developers.
Maarit has a background in planning geography from the University of Helsinki and in urban planning from Aalto University. Her research focused on new methods for enabling and encouraging wider public participation. In her dissertation, she studied the opportunities for urban planners to take advantage of map-based public participation geographic information system (PPGIS) tools like Maptionnaire to gain ideas and insights from residents.
Miloš Mladenović
Miloš N. Mladenović is an Associate Professor at the Spatial Planning and Transportation Engineering Group, Department of Built Environment, School of Engineering.
His current research interests include the governance of emerging mobility technologies and the development of decision-support methods. His previous and current teaching responsibilities include transport systems policy, planning, modeling, management, and design courses.
Pilvi Nummi
Pilvi Nummi (PhD, architect) is a Post-doctoral Researcher at the Department of Built Environment at Aalto University.
Pilvi Nummi's research interests are related to participatory land use planning and digital participation. She is currently working on the FinEst Twins research project, which develops smart tools for communicative city planning in Helsinki and Tallinn.
Dominic Stead
Dominic Stead is Professor of Land Use and Transport Planning at Aalto University.
His research and teaching are mainly concerned with urban and regional governance and sustainability. Before moving to Aalto, Dominic worked in the Netherlands and the UK. He has also spent time as a visiting academic in universities in Australia, Germany, and Malta.