Problems and motivations

A landscape plan should be drawn up in the city of Königslutter as part of the EU guidelines for implementing the Aarhus Convention. According to the convention, public access to information should be improved and the public should be involved in planning at an early stage. Another focus was the new media that should be used to implement these projects. In addition, children and young people should also be specifically involved.

A landscape plan is uncoordinated, has a recommendative character and is not legally binding in Lower Saxony. According to the Lower Saxony Nature Conservation Act, it is used to prepare and supplement land use planning, to protect special parts of the landscape and to design the natural environment.

The testing and development process is the planning and implementation process for the creation of the landscape plan and includes the active involvement of the public in this process.

history

The city of Königslutter offered various information and participation options regarding the creation of the landscape plan as part of the testing and development process. The landscape plan itself was to be drawn up between January 2002 and February 2005.

Entities and funding

Responsible were the city of Königslutter, which took care of the organizational and public relations, an external planning office (entera), which took over the content development of the landscape plan, and an interdisciplinary team from the University of Hanover, which was responsible for the design, content, technology and implementation of the planning support system (Internet platform) and the accompanying research was responsible.

The whole thing was financed by the State of Lower Saxony and the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.

Participant selection

The addressees were selected according to the objectives of the project and the varying planning phases. The target concept included experts in particular, whereas inventory and development included experts and the general public. The design was then distributed to the public without experts.

Overall, participants included professional associations, specialist authorities, municipal administration, political bodies, environmental associations, land users, owners and the general public.

Considerations, decisions, and dealing with the public

Four thematic participation projects took place: 1. Cycle route planning; 2.Landscape picture; 3. Soil erosion and 4. meadow restoration.

The cycle path planning included an excursion in which everyone could participate, followed by a discussion round and a linked discussion on the project's internet platform, which was freely accessible and upon registration, everyone could publish contributions. In addition, two meetings were held among planning experts. The goal was to plan new cycle paths.

The landscape project also made it possible to take part in cycling excursions, which were later called up online in 360 ° panoramic images. Further information was placed on the online platform as a PDF, among other things, and an online survey was carried out. There were also discussion events and letters of recommendation. The results of the discussions were made available online. The goal was to plan the landscaping.

The soil erosion project consisted of information events and a seminar on estimation methods and measures for soil erosion as well as three discussion events and in this context the use of different visualization methods. The aim of this project was to present a new estimation framework and to discuss measures to prevent soil erosion.

The renaturation planning included an expert discussion, an excursion, information and discussion events and the internet-based dissemination of information about the project and the results. The aim was to take the floodplains into account and to renaturate the irrigation in the landscape plan.

Various means of communication were used in the course of the projects. You could read in the press (local newspapers and advertisements), about activities that encouraged participation (also communicated online), the internet portal, which included a game world for children and adolescents, and the online-based diary, which informed about all project actions, via email, Letters and mentioned activities are cleared up, participate and participate.

Influence, results and effects

The overall participation was not very high. Very few people took part in the forum of the internet platform in particular. Overall, 2003: 248 and 2004: 232 people actively participated. The highest participation took place directly at discussion meetings, which made it possible to leave comments on cards with sticky notes. After that came the personal conversation or phone call. The new media were not used as much for feedback. Online participation was weak. There was 830 total responses. For comparison: there are 17,000 inhabitants in the project area.

Analysis and criticism

The project was evaluated by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Hanover based on three questions:

1. Content, design and handling of the internet platform and the modules used

2. Requirements and expectations of those involved

3. Influence of the information and communication platform on the planning process and the implementation of the goals and measures of the landscape plan

Different evaluation methods were used. Among other things: surveys, observation, usability tests, analysis of comparative material and experimental activities on the use of visualization technology.

Usability was the main problem with the low use of new media. The research team came to the conclusion that on the main page of the website of such a project, one could see directly: diary, news, contact information and access to the participation tools. The discussion forum in particular was too difficult for users to find and was therefore used so rarely. It is also questionable whether rural areas such as Königslutter (at that time) were technically adequately equipped for online participation modules. Nevertheless, the stored data, which were accessed via the internet platform, were very suitable for later analyzes.

The game world caught the children's attention and their parents were motivated to participate through their children. This has been observed at events.

Secondary sources

Kubicek, Lippa, Westholm: "Media mix in local democracy. The integration of online elements in participation processes at local level. Final report for the Hans Böckler Foundation Part 3", pp. 209-228. Bremen, October 2007.