Modern society since the 1970s has been characterised by an ongoing information revolution which has been led by innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Technological breakthroughs have pushed social organisations to constantly adjust themselves to fit new possibilities and demands. But, in spatial planning, comparing to other fields, the influences of the ICT innovations are still limited due to the ‘mismatch’ between real demands and technology supply and ‘bottlenecks’ in implementations. This research is aimed at improving the technological support practice in spatial planning decision-making by, linking the technology supply with planning demand. This is based on both theoretical debate and practical experiences, to develop a new model for a successful Planning Support System (PSS), and to test and implement it in the practice of ‘sustainable urban regeneration’. In this research, new opportunities have been created from matching the innovations of Web 2.0 internet applications and geo-semantic web services with the standing demand on gathering and exchanging knowledge in spatial planning, which facilitate the shift of decision-making towards a more communicative and collaborative mode. To do this, a new PSS framework was proposed for bridging the ICT innovations and the planning world, focusing on the common interest in the positive combination of technology, knowledge and people. A prototype system was designed, developed and implemented with local authorities in Greater Manchester in a case study of sustainable transport planning. The experiences learnt show that: 1) the contradiction between the limited expectations of the planners and the complex technological facilities that the developers offer affected the motivation to take up innovations in the first place; 2) the wider context of planning decision-making, i.e. the changing ideology of public policy-making, affects the acceptance of ICT innovations in practice, 3) the organisational structure and politics within planning institutions can also limit the diffusion of innovations. Besides, the actors (i.e. initiator, developers and targeted users) in technology implementation are often not clearly defined, which causes uncertainties and misunderstandings in the process. Furthermore, there is a dilemma in that using ICT innovations to facilitate policy innovations also means unexpected changes in daily routine or organisational culture, which most governmental departments are not fully ready and willing to accept. Therefore, it is recommended that future development in PSS should: 1) actively embrace the new technologies and interfaces, 2) find suitable ‘use-cases’ which support knowledge exchange in the multi-level and multi-agent plan-making, 3) follow a task-based approach to produce a useful tool with clearly defined purposes, 4) identify the appropriate actors and partnerships for PSS development and implementation and 5) try to institutionalise PSS development and implementation within the planning authority, to minimise resistance caused by non-technical issues and organizational obstacles.

Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Claude A. Keithley / Planning Support Systems allow planners to create alternative development scenarios to forecast a more accurate and precise future trend of development in their communities. The software What If?™ has been developed and introduced in the planning profession since its first release in the 1990’s. This report evaluates the software What If?™ based on the planning decision-making process. The report provides three aspects of evaluation: technical, empirical, and subjective. In addition, the paper will be also providing an overall understanding of the analytical capability of What If?™, and an overview of its operating procedures.

The aim of this project is to improve the planning support system LEAM for use in Stockholm, as well as to use it as a tool in investigating which factors drive development in the Stockholm region, and how this can be used to guide future development to be as sustainable as possible. The details of the data assembly and modifications made for the improvement of LEAM Stockholm are included in this report, together with suggestions for further improvements. Four different scenarios for development in Stockholm were tested during this project, and the results of these scenarios are included here. Based on these scenarios, transportation (road) networks and growth limitations imposed by the planning authorities (no-growth zones and municipal density targets) were found to be those drivers which have the biggest effect on directing the urban growth. These drivers could also be used effectively in guiding urban development for improved watershed management and reduced urban greenhouse gas emissions.

The difficulty of projecting ecological impacts, as well as the increasing familiarity of planners with Geographical Information Systems and other software technology has led to an increase in the use of Planning Support Systems (PSS) by city and regional planners. Due to their newness and rapid development, there is, of yet, a lack of a comprehensive peer-reviewed literature on the design and implementation of these systems. This thesis proposes and applies a rating framework for PSS in order to facilitate accessibility to and critical investigation of PSS. The rating framework’s criteria are based on the “seven sins” of comprehensive land use models identified by Douglass Lee’s 1973 article “Requiem for Large-Scale Models." / text

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Environmental Design and Planning Program / Lee R. Skabelund / Despite the growing number of urban adaptation planning initiatives to climate change hazards, there exist significant barriers related to implementation uncertainties that hinder translation of adaptation plans into actions, resulting in a widely recognized ‘planning-implementation gap’ across scales and regions. Bridging the planning-implementation gap will require overcoming implementation uncertainties by better understanding the relationships between the primary factors driving adaptation planning initiatives and emerging adaptation options across spatial scales. The modified Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response model published by Rounsevell, Dawson, and Harrison in 2010 provided a robust framework for identifying the primary factors driving adaptation planning initiatives and the emerging adaptation options related to risk of changing climate and flooding events in the urban context. Drawing on evidence from the systematic review of 121 adaptation planning case studies across North America, this research derived qualitative and quantitative data, which was subsequently analyzed using binary logistic regression to generate objective and generalizable findings. The findings of binary logistic regression models suggest that the choice of specific adaptation options (namely enhancing adaptive capacity; management and conservation; and improving urban infrastructure, planning, and development) may be predicted based on the assessment of primary factors driving adaptation planning initiatives (namely, anticipation of economic benefits; perceived threats to management and conservation of urban natural resources; support of human and social systems; and improvement of policy and regulations) in relation to the risk of changing climate and urban flooding events. This does not imply that other primary factors (namely information and knowledge; perceived funding and economic opportunities; evidence of climate change effects; and general concerns) have no or insignificant relationships with the selection of adaptation options, only that the review did not find evidence to support such claims. These study findings may offer useful guidance to the design and further development of planning and decision support tools that could be used for assessment of adaptation plans and selection of robust adaptation options that take account of uncertainties surrounding implementation of effective climate adaptation actions. Study findings can also inform evidence-based policy and investment decision making, especially in regions where urban adaptation plans are weak or absent.

Städer runt om i världen expanderar i allt snabbare takt för att möjliggöra morgondagens behov och efterfrågan, vilket sker inom ramen för hållbar utveckling i flera sammanhängande dimensioner. Samtidigt som digitaliseringen och nya postindustriella värdeskapande fortgår, vilket resulterar i en förskjutning av de fysiska resurserna. Många stadsmiljöer står därför inför paradoxen att ha för mycket utrymme men förlorat innehåll och bristande tillgänglighet. Stadens exponentiella dragningskraft måste därmed kunna förändras parallellt med samhället för att upprätthålla en kontinuerlig användning. En alternativ lösning är att effektivisera markutnyttjandet med hjälp av digitala verktyg för att möjliggöra multifunktionella byggnader och samutnyttjande av lokaler. Denna studie har därför som syfte att kartlägga effektivisering av markutnyttjande i form av samutnyttjande och multifunktionell svensk stadsplanering, därtill undersöka befintliga digitala verktyg för att främja detta. Genom en litteraturstudie samt en fallstudie erhålls information som blev utgångspunkterna för studiens analys och diskussion där slutsatser så småningom drogs. Litteraturstudien behandlar historia och definitioner kring multifunktionella byggnader och samutnyttjande av lokaler samt digitala verktyg inom stadsplanering i form av planeringsstöd system (PSS). Även deras förutsättningar och hållbara miljömål för att möjliggöra en mer yteffektiv markutnyttjande av svenska städer. Fallstudien inleds med en beskrivning och kartläggning av ett ledande PSS nämligen, Cityscope samt hur den fungerar. Därefter beskrivs förutsättningar och utmaningar gällande implementeringen av ett digitalt verktyg som Cityscope inom svensk stadsplanering, detta för att underlätta arbetet mot ett mer effektivt markutnyttjande. Med särskild inriktning på Boverkets arbete kring digitalisering av stadsplaneringen, vilket kompletterades med en intervju med planeringsarkitekten John Hellman på Boverket.  Studiens slutsats innefattar bland annat förståelsen för att uppnå positiv stadsutveckling genom att effektivisera markutnyttjande där flera faktorer måste samarbeta, däribland sambandet mellan offentligt och privat, analysering av klusterbildningar i städers flödessystem, medborgardeltagande och ett grundat förtroende mellan ingående parter. För en varaktig utveckling, governance och förtätning krävs det att fastighetsaktörer utvecklas mot att inkludera fler verksamheter i samma lokal och multifunktionellt byggande för att skapa goda förutsättningar för hållbara stadsdelar. Detta kan göras möjligt med hjälp av befintliga digitala verktyg som exempelvis Cityscope, men där fokus i framtiden ligger i att myndigheter inom stadsplanering måste sammanföra korrekt, konsekvent och opartisk stadsrelaterad data samt se över ingående lagstiftning för att möjliggöra mer yteffektiva städer. / Cities around the world are expanding at an ever faster pace to enable tomorrow's needs and demands, which takes place within the framework of sustainable development in several coherent dimensions. At the same time as digitalisation and new post-industrial values proceeds, this results in a shift in the physical resources. Many urban environments are therefore facing the paradox of having too much space but losing content and lack of accessibility. The city's exponential allurement thus needs to be able to change parallelly with society in order to maintain continuous use. An alternative planning solution is to streamline land-use with the help of digital tools to enable multifunctional buildings and shared use of premises. The purpose of this study is therefore to map the streamlining of land-use in the form of shared use and multifunctional Swedish urban planning, in addition, examine existing digital tools to promote this change. To achieve positive urban development by streamlining land-use, several different factors need to work together, including the connection between public and private, analysis of clusters in urban flow systems, citizen participation and a well-founded trust between parties. For lasting development, governance and densification, it is required that property actors develop towards including more businesses in the same premises and multifunctional construction in order to create good conditions for sustainable districts. This can be made possible with the help of existing digital tools such as Cityscope, but where the focus in the future is that authorities in urban planning must combine correct, consistent and impartial city data and review in-depth legislation to enable more space-efficient cities that could change in real time.