Using Interactive Web Tools in Environmental Planning to Improve Communication about Sustainable Development

"Public involvement in the landscape planning process is an essential opportunity to communicate the goals and objectives of a sustainable planning....This involvement can be supported by interactive information, discussion, and learning opportunities."

This article examines how modern web tools, social media, and new visualisation approaches can support communication in the context of environmental issues so as to infuse citizens' attitudes and perceptions of sustainability on a local or regional scale in decision-making processes. Administrative approaches that governments are using to support transparency and open views on governmental task management, to improve the public knowledge base with information and data, and to promote feedback are termed "open government" in this article. "This more communicative and participatory style of administration aims to involve more people and to improve how well they are informed about issues in their jurisdiction....However, open government often fails to take full advantage of social media and interactive web tools in the communication between citizens and the government/administration as it lacks a comprehensive and targeted strategy."

To begin imagining such a strategy, the authors set about to examine landscape planning as an instrument that politicians and planners can use to promote sustainable environmental planning decisions. They explain that "[o]ne goal of landscape planning is to generate information that supports the inclusion of environmental objectives in spatial decision-making. To reach this goal, decision makers must communicate sustainable development concepts to the public and stakeholders in a clear and understandable manner. Public involvement in the planning process serves as an essential opportunity to communicate the goals and objectives of sustainable planning." Map-servers and WebGIS have made it possible to collect and present spatial data that is linked to environmental information, e.g., proposed planning measures or habitat information. The authors also discuss the ways in which the use of the internet in participation has moved from a static information flow in one direction (Web 1.0) to an interactive participatory approach of Web 2.0, which is characterised by user-generated content. "Social media and web tools provide new opportunities to promote a new kind of knowledge creation by presenting and interacting with information in a larger social context, which has the potential to promote social learning..."

In fact, the authors note that the first step of communicating sustainability is to draw attention to the changes that are occurring in the natural landscape. This step must be promoted by governmental authorities when they communicate with citizens or non-governmental agencies that promote nature conversation. The second step to improving human and environmental interrelations is to encourage social learning about sustainability and the avoidance of environmental impacts. "Interactive or participatory problem solving is central to social learning. This involves collaboration between different stakeholders early in the process in order to build trust and a common view on the issues and later to resolve conflicts and develop joint solutions." The aim is to create learning experiences in which the connections between our actions/behaviour and environment become clear and can lead to social change.

Along those lines, the authors suggest linking environmental concepts with images and perceptions of sustainability that people are familiar with in their daily life. Research suggests that visualisations improve viewers' understanding of landscape change in that they communicated scientific information in a real-world setting [13]. Visualisations can support meaningful discussion of the planning issues and can be an effective tool in planning but, because realistic visualisations of future situations have a very powerful emotional impact, they must be created in a transparent and defensible manner. Beyond communicating information, the authors stress that it is important to incorporate the stakeholders' opinions, e.g., from landowners, and public knowledge about the landscape and environment in the planning decisions.

To illustrate how this could work in practice, a case study about citizens' response to the development of intensive livestock farming in a rural setting is used to explore what the perception of sustainability on local scale could mean for citizens. Specifically, the authors draw on a qualitative study of a citizens' protest initiative who opposed the project to limit mass livestock farming in a rural area of Lower Saxony, Germany. Interviews were carried out with engaged citizens who held different formal functions in the citizens' protest initiative: the chairwoman, people responsible for (membership) campaigns, local politician of the Green party, and members of the initiative. Through a discussion of this case, the authors find that "[t]he lack of transparency of the planning and decision-making process, as well as the lack of openness about important information, led to distrust among the citizens. Distrust often fosters conflicts in decision-making and inhibits collaborative participation of local citizens....[T]he question remains whether improved communication and access to information about environmental protection found on the Internet and social media increases the public's awareness of sustainability."

Another case study about interactive landscape planning illustrates how interactive Web tools can promote communication about environmental issues and local sustainability. Opportunities to use social networks for environmental planning were tested in the context of the re-evaluation of the Interactive Landscape Plan in Königslutter am Elm (IALP), Germany (project sponsored by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation). The research team posted information and photos about an environmental planning measure in a citizens' discussion group about Königslutter on Facebook. The post included two photos and a description of the renaturalisation of Rottorf's village pond in Königslutter, which was proposed in the IALP. Facebook group members were invited to respond to two questions about the planning measure: Do you know about the measure? Did you use the pond after renaturalisation? The post was followed for 4 days. Thirteen people responded to the questions with 19 comments. In summary, 3 comments not only answered the questions but also expressed their satisfaction about the planning measure. One proposed additional ideas for further development of the pond. Three people shared new information about using the pond, 5 people asked questions about the use of the pond, and 3 people answered the questions posed by others in the group. "The open dialog format enables these kinds of communication in contrast to a one-way information exchange, such as a simple poll."

Using a framework for the use of social media (see Table 1 on page 244), the authors suggest different application levels of social media in participatory planning. Their analysis suggests that the social network holds opportunities for the planning administration in Königslutter to find out about new ideas and wishes of the citizens as well as their opinions about proposed and implemented planning measures. As an observer in social networks, governments, or administrations can inform themselves about the issues that citizens consider important. Social networks also allow governments to inform a large number of citizens about sustainability and environmental issues with relatively little effort.

Finally, the authors explore opportunities to support sustainable decisions with landscape visualisation in environmental planning and decision-making issues. By making climate change personal, visualisation can lead its viewers to go beyond cognitive understanding of the effects of development on the landscape: It can illicit an emotional response to environmental issues and may even motivate decision makers to implement change. For example, they suggest that visualisations such as photomontage, renderings, or even sketches, which allow viewers to compare the "before and after" states of proposed landscape change, are essential in the discussion of sustainable change to the landscape and environmental impact. Interactive visualisation methods that allow stakeholders to develop their own scenarios and alternative futures, such as CommunityViz®, provide an opportunity to develop collaborative solutions and foster social learning.

In concluding, the authors stress that authorities can use social networks, such as Facebook, to foster informal participation in planning by enabling them to: follow current topics that concern the public, collect local knowledge about the existing state of the landscape, gather opinions and rate planning alternatives, and promote an exchange of information about the local landscape among concerned citizens. So, while in open government, the Internet and social media offer opportunities to enhance communication during the planning and decision-making processes, there are limitations of their use in the formal planning process, especially in their practical application. "For example, landscape planning is a formal process that is bound to environmental protection legislation. Therefore, legal requirements must be fulfilled and are not subject for discussion. Public commentary functions are recommended only if they can be evaluated within the planning process and a summary is sufficient feedback. Similarly, landscape visualization and interactive maps offer clear benefits in the participatory process, e.g., visualized planning alternatives. Although such communication tools require more expense and know-how, they can generate transparency, public interest, acceptance, and possibly social learning about complex issues of sustainable development."