Engaging Neighbourhoods Using Technology for Participatory Planning

Participatory Planning is a way of doing planning that puts residents at the centre of decision making in their community. Paul Shaker, RPP, is a principal and co-founder of Civicplan, a Hamilton-based company that has developed a participatory planning platform called PlanLocal to help residents engage more directly in planning their neighbourhods. It combines elements of surveying and crowd mapping on the front end, with real-time data analysis on the back end to give planners and clients rich feedback on the concerns and priorities of residents.

Civicplan’s PlanLocal engagement platform is profiled in Y Magazine, the official publication of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI). Y Magazine is the planning profession’s publication exposing and exploring these looming issues, and the leading practices and emerging trends in the various sectors, fields of practice, and geographic locations. The issue is devoted to the topic of Technology and Planning.