Pre-defined literature study on the relations between ICT and experience of public space

It is a time for rapid societal changes that requires more active involvement by citizens as amateurexperts, active participants and agents in the process of urban planning and design. Social media and digital methods are the tools providing people with mechanism tools that allow them to organize themselves around collective issues, mobilize publics, and to manage social and infrastructural resources in a new collaborative ways.
In the period of short-term scientific mission, seven current projects have been reviewed, three site visits related to these projects in different parts of the city of Amsterdam have been made and two conferences have been undertaken. In addition short-term literature review has been carried out.
As a result, valuable information and experience for the role of digital media, games and bottom up initiatives for changing the top-down approach in urban master planning has been collected and analysed. Important and positive role of the digital media platforms for the success of the process of collaborative city making by involvement of people is proved. A review from the valuable experience and ideas of different stakeholders – universities, independent research groups, NGOs and businesses has been made and the several conclusions have been made:
- using public screens for stimulation of people to stay for a longer time in a public space or even attract people;
- creating a maps of the accessibility of the city and preferred routes through the city;
- public performance on site in the role of new players and new tools together with accessible data base and GIS mapping;
- game performances as the real alternative to standard formats of public consultations;
- within the accessible environment of games, freed from the jargons, various ideas, plans and projects society to be able to solve the conflict in a collaborative way;
- civic interaction for design of products and services that enable citizens to improve the quality of both their individual and communal lives,
- the essential role of play and digital form in the process of urban re-development;
- creation of a new tool for public urban planning with a new players and new tools of accessible data base and GIS mapping.

The following general recommendations for further development have raised:
- Careful definition of variables and indicators for collecting information from the public have to be made in order to identify important bottlenecks;
- Knowledge about the usage of the apps needed, because too many apps could make users confused;
- The incentives for longer-term motivation for using the apps by the users need to be developed;
- The apps with information of what is doing what might be helpful for the users;
- Starting the improvement can be done by focusing on local level - on the neighbourhood;
- Any initiative for using social media have to be seem in local context in terms of existing and changing law and regulations;
- In the process of intra-sectorial communication between different stakeholders it is helpful to have a strong mediator with relevant professional (urban planning, architecture, media studies, urban planning, landscape architecture, social geography and urban ethnography) background, interest and experience.