Digitalising and democratising the planning system: ComTech, citizens, and planners

This thesis explores the evolving role of digital technologies in participatory planning within the context of Planning 3.0, focusing on the cities of London and Belfast. As the proliferation of emerging highly sophisticated technological devices continues to reshape urban life, this research investigates the intersection of planning, technology, and democracy. It addresses key research gaps by examining human-computer interaction, planning support systems, PlanTech, co-design, technological humanism, and the digital divide. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, including case studies, interviews, and multi-actor questionnaires, to triangulate the experiences, requirements, and preparedness of planners, citizens, and planning technology designers. The findings highlight the challenges and opportunities of digital participatory planning, emphasizing the need for a new conceptual framework, ComTech, to better align planning technologies with the diverse needs of urban actors. The ComTech framework is built out in the PhD's findings and conclusions chapter, based on both theoretical and practical insights, and represents a novel contribution to address multiple research gaps associated with digital participatory planning reform in the UK. This research contributes to the discourse on digital planning by providing empirical evidence and practical recommendations for more inclusive and democratic planning practices through a novel approach to multi-actor triangulation, ultimately addressing many of the longstanding issues with participation and digitalisation in planning reform.