Public participation: Technology and democracy

Computerized visualization methods offer planners and architects some new w ays to support and facilitate democratic decision-making. However, the uses of this technology in public participation are just beginning to be explor ed. This paper describes a community planning process in which a combinatio n of high- and low-tech visualization methods-a Geographic Information Syst em (GIS) and a human artist-was used to increase public participation and d raw out local knowledge.