Urban Design in Dialogue

Participatory Urban Design – Researching for Best Practices (PARTI) is a collaborative project between PhD Riina Lundman and the architectural company Jolma Architects Ltd.

The aim of the PARTI project is to study strategic and participatory urban planning processes in novel, district-level city development projects. The special focus is on dialogic and integrated design practices and how they can be advanced among different stakeholders in urban planning.

During the PARTI project, first some existing planning processes and best practices of integrated and/or participatory urban design are studied and benchmarked (e.g. the future Hiedanranta in Tampere). A model for dialogic urban design is created, based on the research results and communication between the researcher, architectural company, and other stakeholders. In the second phase, the dialogic model and other participatory design methods are applied in the actual urban planning projects focusing on the strategic and integrated development of cities.

OBJECTIVES

The general objectives of the PARTI project are:

• researching and improving the strategic, dialogic, and participatory design processes of urban design in general
• providing a unique opportunity to study urban design processes and outcomes in and as part of an expertized planning company
• making an impact on the processes and outcomes of the urban design projects at the company
• implying the research findings and theoretical knowledge in the actual urban design and development projects
• popularizing urban design and research for wider audience

SPECIAL FORM OF COLLABORATION

The PARTI project has been enabled by the Post Docs in Companies program (PoDoCo), which brings together young doctors and Finnish companies by offering them a new form of collaboration and funding opportunity. PoDoCo aims to create a win-win situation where academic research is supporting the competitiveness of a company and doctors get industrial work experience. In the PARTI project, our goal is to integrate research-based knowledge better into urban design through a new type of researcher-architect collaboration.

• Participatory Urban Design – Researching for Best Practices (PARTI)
• Duration: 1.3.­2019–28.2.2020
• 1^st phase (3/2019–8/2019) funded by the Foundation for Economic Education