Abstract
When defining participation in urban renewal projects in a political sense, this concept implies the challenging of power relations in each of its dimensions while addressing the need for knowledge, action and consciousness. Knowledge is defined as a resource which affects observable decision making. Action looks at who is involved in the production of such knowledge in order to challenge and shape the political agenda. Consciousness is how the production of knowledge changes the awareness or worldview of those involved, thus shaping the psychological and conceptual boundaries of what is possible. This paper addresses these politics of participation via the use of gamification, and more particularly gamified participatory artefacts. We discuss how a ‘good’ participatory planning process implies rebalancing existing power relations via the redistribution of knowledge, consciousness and actions, and aims to operationalize this ambition through a game. We particularly focus on the urban renewal process of one particular case, namely the Vennestraat—one of the main commercial streets of the city of Genk (BE) and present a three year participatory mapping process that made use of three gamified participatory artefacts (i.e., socio-economic network mapping, gathering mental images and scenario games). After uncovering the complex field of power relations in the entrepreneurial street, we analyze the different types of relations/groups that emerge from this participatory mapping process. The paper concludes with an analytical framework that employs gamified participatory artefacts in order to map and understand power relations and the mechanisms that frame them.
Highlights
According to Gaventa and Cornwall [1], a ‘good’ participatory planning process should (1) act as a platform for raising awareness on specific topics, knowledge redistribution on said topics and increasing consciousness among actors involved in urban renewal projects and should (2) argue extensively for the connection between knowledge and power and the maintenance of the strategic structural relationships between power and the knowledge monopolies
Gaventa and Cornwall [1] stress that the concepts of knowledge, action and consciousness are intertwined in any successful participatory process, which means successful from the perspective of politics
In order to support this mapping process, we developed a series of gamified participatory artefacts: a socio-economic network tool, mental images and two scenario games (Figure 3)
Summary
According to Gaventa and Cornwall [1], a ‘good’ participatory planning process should (1) act as a platform for raising awareness on specific topics, knowledge redistribution on said topics and increasing consciousness among actors involved in urban renewal projects and should (2) argue extensively for the connection between knowledge and power and the maintenance of the strategic structural relationships between power and the knowledge monopolies. Gaventa and Cornwall [1] stress that the concepts of knowledge, action and consciousness are intertwined in any successful participatory process, which means successful from the perspective of politics. Knowledge is defined as a resource which affects observable decision making. Knowledge redistribution is defined as the action of transferring this resource to all stakeholders involved in a participatory planning process. Action looks at who is involved in the production of such knowledge in order to challenge and shape the political agenda. Consciousness is how the production of knowledge changes the awareness or worldview of those involved, shaping the psychological and conceptual boundaries of what is possible
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