Abstract

Public participation is a key component in environmental planning and design. Yet too often, planners and designers are not equipped with effective tools and visualization techniques to generate meaningful public input. This paper explains how a Geographic Information System and an artist played critical roles in a participatory planning process in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. The GIS provided community leaders, planners, architects and designers with an interactive visualization of the neighborhood context. It also provided examples of design prototypes in relation to their geographic context. The artist, on the other hand, translated neighborhood residents’ ideas into quick sketches, merging their ideas and thoughts into a shared neighborhood vision. Both of these elements – the GIS and the artist – provided a means for residents to visualize past, present and future neighborhood conditions, enabling them to have a greater voice in the design of their neighborhood. Our findings reinforce the view that visualization is a key component in public participation (King, 1998), and that effective visualization may be achieved through combining traditional and computerized visualization tools.

Key Words

GIS, Artist, Visualization, Interactivity

Introduction

The University of Illinois at Chicago has a long-term commitment to assist in the revitalization of surrounding neighborhoods through collaborative projects and programs with local community-based organizations. This paper describes one such project in which UIC design professionals combined traditional freehand sketching with computerized visualization techniques to facilitate public participation in a neighborhood planning process in Chicago’s Pilsen community. Frustrated by the limitations of traditional planning and presentation methods, such as 35 mm slides, paper maps, and large foam boards, UIC planners developed an interactive Geographic Information System image database. The GIS contained maps and images of the neighborhood, as well as attribute data, such as demographic information, physical conditions, and socio-economic data. The system provided planners and community leaders with an interactive, locational database of existing conditions in the neighborhood, as well as "prototype" images of streetscapes, buildings, and façade treatments to assist in visualization and planning. While this technology provided strong, contextual information, it did not have the capacity to transform human ideas into conceptual designs. For this purpose, a highly trained artist was needed to quickly draw freehand sketches that reflected community residents’ emerging ideas. When used in tandem, an effective planning and visualization technique was created. This technique helped facilitate a "bottom-up" planning process in which citizen and University planners systematically analyzed existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and proceeded to develop and graphically represent their vision for the redevelopment of the neighborhood.

This paper will describe how the GIS and the artist each played critical and complementary roles in this planning process. It will focus on the importance of appropriate visualization tools to generate meaningful public input, and how these tools are vital to building trust, increasing design awareness, and enhancing communication. Finally, this paper will discuss the costs and benefits of developing the GIS, and suggest areas in which additional research is needed.

COPC at University of Illinois Chicago

The Community Outreach Partnership Center program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is designed to assist universities develop programs that involve faculty and students in applied projects that benefit neighborhoods and communities. The University of Illinois at Chicago Neighborhood Initiative is one of 42 funded COPC programs nationwide. This initiative sought to alleviate the fear and distrust of neighborhood residents by building productive partnerships. For the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the COPC program and funding reinforced institutional priorities to strengthen the quality of life in these neighborhoods through collaborative programs involving university faculty, community organizations, local government, and corporations (Wiewel, 1998). UIC's Great Cities program and the City Design Center express the university's commitment to direct its teaching, research, and service programs to address urban issues in the Chicago metropolitan area. Both programs created partnerships between UIC and community based organizations in neighborhoods surrounding the university, especially Pilsen and the Near West Side.

Brief History of Pilsen/Little Village

Stretching east to west from the Chicago River to the city limits and north to south from roughly 16th Street to the Stevenson Expressway, the Pilsen/Little Village community has a long history of community activism. Long used as a water passage for Native Americans traveling between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, the Pilsen/Little Village area continued to be of vital importance after European settlement, becoming an economic and cultural crossroads. As a port of entry for recent immigrants, the Pilsen area has welcomed countless immigrants to begin a new life in America. In the 19th century, workers arrived to build the Southwestern Plank Road; the Illinois and Michigan Canal; and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. Many stayed to live in the neighborhood.

By the late 19th century, rapid industrialization and urbanization transformed the largely Czech and German working-class neighborhood into a national center of labor activism. Poles, Croatians, Lithuanians, Italians, and members of other ethnic groups settled in the area, and all have left their imprint. Now one of the largest Mexican communities in the United States, Pilsen/Little Village and its residents have, for more than three decades, engaged in a struggle for political representation, educational reform, social justice, and workers' rights (Marzullo, 1998).

The Project

The University of Illinois at Chicago is located in the heart of the Pilsen community. The shared history of UIC and its neighbors includes not only the displacement of homes and businesses to accommodate the University’s need for expansion, but also large, well-publicized, and eventually discontinued community service programs. These issues have created a nearly universal distrust of the University in Pilsen/Little Village and the Near West Side. It was within this context that University planners and community leaders spearheaded a planning and design process.

Pilsen, which this research focuses on, is a largely Mexican-American and Mexican immigrant community of nearly 50,000 people. Leaders in the Pilsen community expressed an interest in a participatory, collaborative approach to the planning and design of the future of their neighborhood. Like many other low-income neighborhoods, Pilsen must address a host of urban issues, including heavy traffic, urban blight and decay, vacancies and crime. Community leaders were anxious to harness the creative energies of residents as a way of fostering the enthusiasm required to take serious actions and improve the neighborhood. Leaders felt that the meaningful involvement of the entire community would strengthen members’ sense of community, and a cooperative effort would help present a "unified front" when funding opportunities arose. A planning team was formed that included 25 community members, two architects, two planners, and one artist.

The University team’s objectives, on the other hand, went beyond the actual neighborhood planning and design process. UIC’s objectives included creating a mutually respectful partnership with neighborhood residents, preserving neighborhood history, providing a broader understanding and context of urban issues, and exploring effective visual communication methods. Building trust was the highest priority in the planning process. Trust arises from consistently meeting expectations and creating outcomes that all partners perceive as beneficial. One of the first lessons that the University team would learn was that effective visualization was a key to building trust throughout the process.

The Problem

After a short period of involvement, University design professionals realized that the presentation and visualization techniques at their disposal were not promoting trust and meaningful public participation. Slide images of the neighborhood were presented at the beginning of the session to display current site conditions. Slides were set and presented in a fixed sequence. As the discussion moved from the project introduction to the design development stage, there was no interactivity between the present conditions of the neighborhood and the developed future images. As a slide projector lacks navigation capabilities, the images were not readily available during the design discussion. When participants requested viewing a specific image, it was impractical to search for it in the slide tray. Similarly, when the artist and the planners asked for specific images to help them remember contextual details of the site, the images were inaccessible. Consequently, the process lacked a means of placing what was being proposed within the context of what currently existed. Residents and community representatives experienced disorientation, as they had to rely on their memories of the site. Planners, architects and artists also grew frustrated with the limitations of the design process (Al-Kodmany, 1998).

The UIC team began searching for a visualization environment that could effectively connect the two traditional stages of a project: orientation and design development. There is an intimate relationship between proposed design alternatives and their physical context. A visual connection between the two had to be established.

Method

The GIS

A system was needed that would geographically illustrate the neighborhood’s cultural and architectural history; its present conditions, including its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; and provide some design prototypes to foster discussion about how the neighborhood might look in five, ten and twenty years. First, the database needed to illustrate the neighborhood context, including its history, geography, architecture, and cultural values. An interactive GIS image database was developed. It consisted of maps, images, tabular data, and textual information about the Pilsen neighborhood and its surroundings. Thematic layers were created for plat maps, land use maps, zoning maps, base maps, historic maps (fire insurance map), and current aerial photographs. Historic images showing the neighborhood characteristics in various time periods were collected. These photographs were hot-linked respectively to historic maps of various periods. The images were coordinated with a key plan showing direction and the position of each image. This plan was overlaid on the historic maps. This arrangement was meant to aid orientation for future reference in the design process.

Second, the database had to show existing conditions of the neighborhood. A digital camera systematically documented the present condition of the neighborhood, and images were hot linked to their geographic location. Members of the university design team photographed the long-distance implications of the neighborhood from vantagepoints, i.e. tall buildings. Conversely, on-neighborhood shots recorded spatial links from inside out: routes, and shuttered, filtered, sneak, and panoramic views into the surrounding space. The team also shot all access routes and visual links—sneak glimpse, views, etc.—from around the immediate neighborhood periphery looking in. On-neighborhood photographs also documented the mass and details of the impinging forms: materials, openings, textures, colors, and the like. Photographs were hot-linked to their geographic location. The above photographs were also coordinated with a key plan showing direction and the position of each shot. As with the historic photos, this arrangement was meant to aid orientation during future reference in design.

Finally, a GIS library of environmental design prototypes was incorporated in the database. This library was created by the City Design Center. It consisted of photographs of key developments in Chicago's neighborhoods, particularly those adjacent to the campus. The artist on the University design team annotated these photographs regarding quality, historical significance, architectural style, and building materials, and these photographs were hot linked to their geographic locations. This arrangement was intended to visually represent types, architectural styles, and locations of buildings and designs that could be incorporated into the neighborhood plan.

The Artist

The GIS provided critical contextual information, such as maps, demographic information, and neighborhood images. But this technology was no substitute for human drawing capability that could quickly transform ideas into realistic drawings. To facilitate the design process, a graphic designer was recruited to the UIC design team.

The artist was particularly trained to draw urban scenes including streets, parks, plazas and retail areas, as well as detail elements such as shrubs, street signs, benches and chairs. She also depicted human activities in her sketches, to bring a human scale to the drawings. With a few lines, this highly skilled artist could capture the salient features of an image.

Equipment

Equipment for the planning workshops included a computer, an electronic sketchboard, two projectors, and two large screens. The electronic sketchboard is a drawing board with a forgiving surface – it is easy to erase. Sketches on this board can be saved as an electronic file in a graphic format, such as a TIFF or JPEG, to a zip drive. Sketches on this board can be projected to a larger screen via a multi-media projector. The sketches were projected on a screen side by side with a screen used to display the GIS images. The positioning of the screens allowed for cross referencing for both the artist and the participants. The images on the large computer screen showed the existing condition or the "before" scenario. The other screen showed the artist’s sketches of the "after" scenario. The positioning helped keep the artist and the residents in check with reality, to ensure that the emerging drawings were practical, applicable and relevant.

Implementation

Workshops were planned for four consecutive Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at a church in the Pilsen neighborhood. The president of the Pilsen community organization served as the host for the event, welcoming and introducing community and University participants, describing the goals and objectives of the workshops, and describing the contribution of participants in the long-term planning process. Several ground rules were set for the workshop discussions, including 1) Speak only for yourself; let others speak for themselves; 2) Don’t criticize an idea; instead, suggest alternatives; and 3) Don’t focus on solutions; rather, brainstorm for alternatives.

The design process ran counter to conventional practice. It is common that architects and planners prepare a master plan and then proceed to address details (King, 1998). The workshop reversed the process by addressing the parts of the design first and then progressing to the whole. The design process began with the life style of the inhabitants, continued to the design of individual buildings and then to the entire neighborhood. This is the opposite of the traditional process, in which often the first communication with the public is presenting an entire plan.

The design process typically went as follows. The artist wrote the name of an activity at the top of the electronic sketch board. Then, she drew a figure engaged in the activity, and added more figures as directed by the participants. Through question and response, the participants suggested furniture, planting, cars, buildings, and other environmental features. At each suggestion, the artist glanced at the eyes of the participants to check for agreement that the image was developed as it should. Soon, rough images began to appear of Pilsen streets during different seasons (e.g. winter, summer), of people roller skating, jogging, cycling, strolling, and sitting at cafe tables or open-air restaurants, or dancing at an outdoor concert. A myriad of vivid images was developed to depict a rich display of urban activities. These images would later be incorporated into an overall plan for the area.

The GIS image database tremendously assisted the planning team in visualizing past and present conditions of the neighborhood. It engaged the community members in developing alternative solutions. It also helped in visualizing current urban development examples in the city. The constant reference to the image database – including maps, existing buildings and lots – made the discussion contextual and more realistic for everyone involved. Together, the artist and the GIS image database reinforced each other in creating a common visual language. The combination of the high-tech GIS and the low-tech sketches facilitated communication among planners, architects, designers, and residents. The project demonstrated how a combination of basic sketching and visual techniques along with advanced GIS visualization power allowed participants to reach an optimal visualization environment.

A few examples illustrate how the GIS and the artist complemented and reinforced each other. One of the issues that arose during the planning process was the lack of sidewalks in Pilsen. Some of the residents expressed a strong desire for sidewalks; others said sidewalks were not a priority. A lengthy and heated debate ensued. The UIC team used the GIS to display streets in Pilsen with and without sidewalks. The system indicated that approximately half of the streets did not have sidewalks, and it highlighted them in bright yellow. Interestingly, the cluster of yellow matched the location of pedestrian/automobile accidents that appeared on a separate layer underneath the street layer.

The UIC team browsed images of streets to further examine the issue. One picture showed school children entering and exiting their school and walking on the street alongside cars. Another picture showed how some sidewalks were too small in the busy retail areas. These sidewalks were jammed with people, and pedestrians were encroaching on the right-of-way. Other pictures illustrated the deteriorated condition of the existing sidewalks, and as a result, pedestrians did not use those sidewalks. Instead, they used the right-of-way. The images showed that the elderly and disabled had a difficult time getting around the neighborhood; one picture actually showed a blind person attempting to walk along the cars.

As a result of the maps and images, business owners became more supportive of sidewalks as they learned that they would facilitate better access to their businesses. Parents became more supportive as they learned that sidewalks would protect their children from traffic accidents. The community became more sensitive to the needs of their disabled population. These processes led to the collective agreement of the necessity of sidewalks and considered them a top priority. The method helped identify important issues and build consensus.

Once there was consensus that sidewalks were needed, the participants moved on to design. The artist incorporated sidewalks in the sketches of the future of the neighborhood. In sketching the sidewalks of a major thoroughfare, 18^th Street, she added tall trees. Some members of the audience objected. The architect and planners in the UIC team supported the concept, explaining how trees would enhance the neighborhood. One of the residents explained that it is impossible to plant trees because there was hollow under these streets (The sewer system was built on the ground due to an elevation problem with Lake Michigan, and streets were built on top of the sewer lines in a vaulted structure). Instead, audience suggested some plants. The artist drew beautiful plant beds with heavy vegetation and greenery. Some participants objected to the heaviness of the vegetation due to visibility and safety concerns. The artist adjusted the scale and intensity of the vegetation in the sidewalk plant beds.

Similar processes were involved in the design of streetlights, benches and pavement of the sidewalks. In seeking simple, yet elegant designs for these features that would complement the neighborhood, the artist and residents examined architectural features already in present in Pilsen. The final designs agreed upon by the group for the streetlights, benches, and pavement incorporated decorative details from area churches and historic buildings. The participants and the artist were quickly able to examine and evaluate these elements by pulling up images in the GIS.

The above examples illustrate how the GIS and the artist complemented and reinforced each other. Sketches were immediately projected on a large screen, side by side with the screen containing computer images. This positioning of screens allowed participants to constantly observe how the artist modified images and incorporated them into the design. Everyone was potentially able to voice an opinion or concern. Such a setting reinforced the reliance on visual cues and minimized reliance on jargon. Consequently, it increased participation in the design process. This time, instead of two distinct phases -- orientation (through use of a slide show) and design development (artist with a sketch pad), the GIS database and the artist worked interactively, resulting in a more fluid, contextual design process. This system helped participants view the gradual design process and witness the impact that their input had in shaping the design and ultimately, their neighborhood.

Following the four-week series of workshops, sketches were printed out and displayed in the church hall for two weeks. The display represented a logical extension of the public design process, allowing people who did not attend the workshop an opportunity to view the sketches and plans. In order to personalize the design process, the signatures of the community leaders and the University designers were imprinted on the drawings. Following the public display period, the drawings and comments were gathered into a report. The report represented the community’s vision for Pilsen and served as a reference guide for future decision-makers, developers, planners, urban designers and architects.

Results

The combination of the GIS and the artist had positive and negative outcomes. In terms of the positive outcomes, first, the use of this technique promoted strong community involvement in the planning process, which was an objective of the community and the University. The GIS and the artist working in tandem helped community residents articulate their ideas in relation to neighborhood context. Together, the artist and the GIS image database reinforced each other in creating a common visual language. People not trained in the design professions sometimes have a difficult time communicating ideas about architecture and urban design, but most people have definite design preferences. To facilitate this, the GIS image database contained examples of numerous developments near the neighborhood and throughout the city. These images were used as anchor points for discussing development alternatives. As participants suggested solutions, the planner would display images on the large screen that most closely matched the participants’ ideas. Design examples were used to probe and support the audience's ideas.

Second, the GIS helped highlight the importance of cultural values and history in the future design of the neighborhood. One of the major concerns of the Pilsen community is to preserve their cultural heritage represented in the physical form. The GIS images reminded the artist, the planners, and the community residents of the cultural artifacts and environmental elements in Pilsen. These images supported discussion of cultural issues in the neighborhood. Images helped the artist to incorporate some of the cultural symbolic features and artifacts of the community in the new designs. Also, the GIS showed the geographic distribution and clusters of buildings of significant cultural and historic value. Consequently, it was clear to everyone the areas of great cultural and historic significance and the areas of less importance.

Finally, and most importantly, the workshops and the visualization tools helped build a relationship of trust between the University and the community. The GIS and the artist helped empower residents to plan and design for the future of their community. The designs that were created by the planners and designers reflected their wishes and input and respected their cultural heritage. At the end of the process, the community felt that the purpose of the University was not to destroy their lifestyle but to revitalize their community. This helped overcome some of the distrust problems that were experienced

in the past. At the end of the workshops, several participants expressed an interest in attending classes at UIC in the Urban Planning program and the Art program. To date, several neighborhood participants have been admitted to these programs.

Several drawbacks to this method must also be mentioned. First, a single image often reveals a dozen issues, both positive and negative, instantaneously. As images were displayed, new issues were constantly brought to light. As a consequence, it was often difficult to focus the discussion on one issue from start to finish, as new issues were constantly displayed on the screen. Second, using the GIS in the church required transporting large amounts of equipment to and from UIC, and technical glitches were a frequent part of the process. The computer was often slow in processing information such as loading images and overlaying thematic layers. These delays often prolonged the planning process and interrupted the constant flow of ideas. Finally, the costs of developing the GIS system were substantial. This issue will be discussed at length in the planning implications section of this paper.

This paper reports on the early stages of this ongoing planning and design project with the Pilsen community. The project was successful in identifying problems and producing a long-term vision and concept plans for the neighborhood. UIC has a long-term commitment to Pilsen and its neighbors. Additional workshops are planned to continue the planning and design process. Recently, the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development identified 12 sites that were a priority for new development in Pilsen. The UIC team took images of these sites and loaded them into the GIS. At the request of the community, the system is now used as a tool to market these sites to potential developers. Thus, the system is being used to spark new investment in the community and implement the proposed projects.

Planning Implications

There are other visualization techniques available to planners, such as virtual reality of urban environment (George, 1998), multi-media and decision-support systems in planning context (Shiffer, 1995). Each may work in a specific situation (Klosterman, 1998). There is no single method that works for all situations. Planners should explore the different methods that are most effective for different situations. While the methods described in this paper were appropriate for this situation, future research is needed to explore and develop methods of visualization in the context of public participation.

There is room to enhance the method used in this project. It is possible to improve the organization of data in the GIS system in order to provide better and faster query capabilities. It is possible to customize GIS/Arcview used in this project to facilitate tailored functions; i.e. functions that answer common questions in public participation. Research is needed to enhance the methods involving organizing and indexing images according to themes in the GIS. Future research could focus on further developing this method.

Building the GIS database was a tremendous undertaking, requiring more than three months. University planners and designers exceeded the budget for this project due to the labor-intensive activities required in gathering and assembling the images, maps and historical data. However, the benefits of this system for the University and the neighborhood far outweighed the cost. The visual context provided by the GIS image database was critical to the success of the project. People’s perceptions about the built environment vary tremendously by their geographic location, cultural background, length of stay, age, gender, socioeconomic status and the like. The GIS helped bridge those perceptions, helped level the playing field between the technical experts (the planners and designers) and the neighborhood. Everyone on the planning team had access to the same contextual information and could formulate their ideas and designs accordingly. The GIS will also be a key part of UIC’s ongoing projects with the Pilsen community.

The cost of this project is also justified because the City Design Center, the Great Cities Institute and the Urban Data Visualization Program at the University of Illinois have longer-term projects involving visualization of Metropolitan Chicago. This project was viewed as a "test" to the effectiveness of visualization tools in public settings. The findings of this research reinforce views about the importance of visualization in participatory design. The most important finding is that each of the artists' visualization capabilities and the GIS visualization capabilities were irreplaceable. Collaboration between the GIS and the artist provided a unique visualization environment that improved participatory design.

Conclusion

For participatory design, this project suggested that a collaboration of traditional and GIS tools could be effective. It showed how collaboration of basic sketching and visual techniques along with advanced GIS visualization power created an optimal visualization environment. Visualization is a key in public participation because it is the only common language to which all participants can relate. Visualization provides a focus for a community's discussion of their design ideas; it guides them through the design process; it raises their design awareness, and facilitates better communication. Consequently, exploring alternative visualization techniques could be a necessity for ensuring successful communication. Planning processes vary in nature and different situations, ends and goals, and may require different visualization tools.

In describing the workshop experience and some of the outcomes, this paper aims at reinforcing the work of others in the field of public participation. By sharing our experience, we may arrive at better methods of cooperative community design. Clearly, the development of methods and skills in community design are in their infancy, still at the exploratory and discovery stage. This paper is a step in the development of such skills – progressing toward the art of designing with people.

Author’s Note:

The author wishes to thank several individuals from the University of Illinois for their help in this project including: Robert Brugmann and Peter Hales (Art History); Charles Hoch, Wim Wiewel, and Tinwei Zhang, (Urban Planning), Roberta Feldman (City Design Center and Architecture); George Hemmens (City Design Center and Urban Planning); James Hudson (Arc/Info Technology Lab); Yequao Wang (Geography Department); Kate Pravera (Great Cities Institute). The author also wishes to deeply thank Angie Marks for editing the paper. Finally, the author wishes to thank Mike Schwartz and Ismail Sumairah for useful comments.

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