A Communication-based Planning System for a Modern Information Society: An Innovative Approach to City Management

Abstract

This paper analyzes the present state and problems of the modern Japanese city planning system from a social information theory perspective, and proposes a theoretical framework for a new city planning system for a culture adapted to information society. First “communication-based” means taking account of human behaviors to express thoughts, feelings, or information as resources for city planning. All of these together, in addition to values chosen with respect to the future, can be considered the source of the city's dynamism. Furthermore while the nature of active social communication has an effect on behavioral patterns in a modem information society, it also has a large effect on the city planning method itself, due to the pervasion of communication systems. This paper considers changes in both directions in order to extract the issues in modem city planning. In order to survey these broad trends in city planning, this study summarizes the main values that city planning around the world has focused on in each era, and investigate and summarize current issues in and the state of modem city planning in an information society. Additionally we discuss the use of an information support system as a new method in city planning. Using the approach taken by Yamato City in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan as an advanced example, the development of a paradigm shift in city planning is discussed. In conclusion, this research presents a model of the communication process in collaborative city planning based on an open information system, and propose a plan-making support model based on communication and participation.