July 18, 2003

Participatory Design and Planning with the Internet
Case Study: Rebuilding the World Trade Center Site

The Internet promises to be a powerful tool for enabling community-based design. Planners and architects are making their visual and spatial ideas accessible to a broad public by tapping the multimedia capabilities of the Web. And they’re using the Web’s interactive features to create a place for focused discussion and information exchange about specific projects and sites. The Internet can enable much wider participation by stakeholders and the public in such decisions than has previously been possible, supported by media-rich information about development proposals and the complex issues surrounding land use planning decisions.

We’ll take as a case study the most visible building project on earth: the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site. Representatives of Imagine New York, a project of the Municipal Arts Society, Listening to the City, a project of Web Lab and the Civic Alliance, and Reconstruction Report, a project of the Design Trust for Public Space, will discuss how the Internet is playing a significant role in this ongoing public conversation.

Participants interested in implementing a participatory Web for facility programming or community-based design will learn the basics of planning, designing and managing a Web project. Issues considered will include: broadening public access to planning information; visualization with geographic information systems, 3D modeling, and immersive imaging techniques; creating discussion forums and other interactive elements; and integrating the Web with other techniques of participatory planning and design.

Instructor:

Jonathan Cohen, FAIA is a Berkeley architect and the author of Communication and Design with the Internet, a Guide for Architects, Planners, and Building Professionals (WW Norton: 2000.) His architectural projects have won national awards from the AIA and the Urban Land Institute, and his consulting clients include design and planning firms throughout the country. Since 1996, his seminar, “Expanding Your Practice with the Internet,” has introduced thousands of fellow architects to the potential of Web-based design communication. Jonathan is the 2003 Chair of the Technology in Architectural Practice advisory group of the American Institute of Architects.

Guest Speakers:

Marc Weiss has used media to stimulate public discussion of social issues as an independent filmmaker, creator of the public TV series P.O.V., and founder of the new media think tank Web Lab. In the summer of 2002, Web Lab organized in-depth online dialogues about the future of the World Trade Center site and downtown Manhattan.

Micaéla Birmingham is Co-Director of the Planning Center of the Municipal Art Society and Director of the Society's Geographic Information Systems program. The Planning Center is working with community-based organizations on the creation of an on-line GIS resource for local groups to use for planning, research, public comment and communication with city agencies.

Darya Cowan is the project manager for the Municipal Art Society’s Imagine New York project, an effort to involve the broadest possible public in planning for the future of the World Trade Center site and the region after September 11. The project website accepted online submissions of ideas and serves as a searchable online database of all of the 19,000 ideas collected through the project.

Claire Weisz is the principal of Weisz + Yoes/CWA, a young award-winning architectural and urban design firm. She is the co-executive director of the Design Trust for Public Space whose work has influenced public policy and design in New York City. She has taught in the urban design department at Columbia University and is a frequent critic and lecturer.

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