The added value of public participation GIS (PPGIS) for urban green infrastructure planning

Abstract

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning is a new approach to planning that aims to develop multifunctional networks of green and blue spaces designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services, and thereby, to improve quality-of-life in cities. However, moving current practice in urban green space planning towards the UGI planning approach will require higher quality information about a wider array of ecosystem services than currently measured and more spatially detailed social valuation methods. This paper explores the added value of public participation GIS (PPGIS), a relatively new type of survey for obtaining social values, as a tool for UGI planning. We do this by surveying real-life assessment tools for CES used in the case study city of Berlin and comparing the results of these with those of a PPGIS survey conducted in the city. The discussion centers on application of PPGIS results for UGI planning, focusing on their potential for enhancing multifunctionality at different spatial scales. At the site-level, the tool can help target conflict and less valued areas for redesign and management, as well as identifying particularly loved park features for protection. At the district- and city-level, we found potential for improving representativeness and accuracy of expert-based assessments, identifying coldspots and difficult-to-map functions, correcting deficits and increasing understanding of functional synergies. Outside of enhancing multifunctionality assessment, PPGIS may also support implementation of other defining principles of UGI planning, such as connectivity of green spaces, integrating urban green infrastructure with other infrastructure and ensuring collaborative, socially-inclusive planning processes.