Digital Citizen Participation in Urban Planning : A comparative analysis between Helsingborg and Linköping smart cities

Abstract:   The study sets out to examine digital citizen participation in urban planning in two Swedish smart cities, Helsingborg, and Linköping.   The theoretical framework combines three perspectives, the Habermas’ communicative theory, the Arnstein’s citizen participation concept and the smart city concept. By using this theoretical lens, the study intends to answer the following research questions: firstly. how does the use of digital technologies (digital consultation, online platform) in citizen participation initiatives in urban planning contributes/creates a deliberative and participatory democratic space, in the development of the smart city? and secondly, what is the quality of public engagement in digital participation initiatives and, how digitalization might or not contribute to make a more inclusive and equitable city?  By combining different methods such as policy analysis, interviews conducted among urban planners, an observation and a questionnaire among citizens, digital citizen participation in urban planning is explored in different levels. The analysis of the official documents shows that the use of digitalization aims to create a more efficient contact and space where the municipalities and the citizens can have a dialogue in order to develop a democratic, inclusive, and equitable smart city. In the interviews with the urban planners, it is revealed that digitalization, online platforms and other OPTs (online participatory tools), can be effective tools for communication, targeting certain age groups and allowing citizen’s feedback, however, there is still some groups that are excluded in the process. Furthermore, the questionnaire with citizens has revealed certain skepticism about the use of digitalization and the possibility to influence the process of planning while using digital citizen participation initiatives.