Shaping the pace - a digital design heuristics tool to support creation of urban design by non-professionnals

Abstract

Over the last years participation in urban design and planning has gained interest of research institutions, and more particularly ICT-mediated citizen participation in urban projects. This paper is exploring a solution to foster civic engagement in urban design projects though an ICT tool. We propose a framework to support interactions between non-professionals and professionals that will ease the understanding of urban design and creation of design proposals for non-trained people and, on the other hand, offer valuable propositions and inspiration to experts. The paper is first offering an overview of the existing methodologies and tools for participatory urban design, followed by a presentation of a case-study in marseille. Then we propose the definition of a scenario along with a 3D modelling tool to engage citizens, and first results of implementation.