Engaging the wisdom of crowds and public judgement for land use planning using public participation geographic information systems

Abstract

More effective collaboration is a recurring theme to improve public participation in planning. But collaborative processes are constrained by the number of people that can participate, limiting the diversity and independence of planning participants resulting in suboptimal planning outcomes. This article argues that crowd sourcing and public judgement using public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) can result in better planning outcomes. The wisdom of crowds refers to a phenomenon where collective opinion generates superior solutions to a problem than can be obtained by any individual in the group; public judgement refers to high-quality public opinion that is firm, consistent and mindful of consequences. PPGIS is a means to operationalise and translate the wisdom of crowds and public judgement into spatially explicit information for land use decisions. This article presents the conditions for engaging crowd wisdom and public judgement using PPGIS to collect spatially explicit planning information, followed by examples that illustrate the benefits. Technology exists to expand the use of PPGIS for planning, but there is resistance from influential segments of society that do not trust the wisdom of crowds. Innovators within planning practice are encouraged to provide opportunities to test and evaluate crowd-sourced planning solutions.