Decoration or participation : Children's Tracks and the zoning planning of an area undergoing development and densification

Abstract

The thesis builds on two perspectives which are seen as interconnected, and thus treated as such in the thesis: the perspective of children’s participation as a means of promoting their local experiential knowledge in planning, and the involvement and influence of the children in planning through Children’s Tracks. In the thesis, PPGIS tools and methodology is viewed as a means of producing local experiential knowledge for planning purposes, and through this: a means of promoting the interest and perspectives of lay persons such as children in the decision-making processes in planning. The thesis assesses what is happening when the local experiential knowledge is co-produced through the use of Children’s Tracks and its application in the planning context, and the children’s perspectives translated. This must be seen in connection to how children are involved and how they are influencing the decision-making of the planning process. The latter is also studied in the thesis. Through the case study in the thesis, it is found that there are challenges to the co-production and translation of children’s perspectives through Children’s Tracks, in terms of spatial accuracy and the access to the children’s place-based uses and experiences, and in terms of framing the children’s perspectives. Furthermore, when applied in zoning planning as a participatory tool, it is shown the dependency on the context of the planning process and the reliance of the planning actors to promote and prioritize and give legitimacy to the perspectives of the children as represented through Children’s Tracks.