Social media is playing a key role in increasing participation in planning, as illustrated by a recent consultation process in Auckland. A month ago, when submissions on a cycle lane beneath Auckland Harbour Bridge were closing, Ryan Mearns of Generation …Young Planners showcase social media and what it means for planning

Social media is playing a key role in increasing participation in planning, as illustrated by a recent consultation process in Auckland.

A month ago, when submissions on a cycle lane beneath Auckland Harbour Bridge were closing, Ryan Mearns of Generation Zero prompted 9000 shares and re-Tweets alerting pedestrians and cyclists to a quick online submission form so they could have their say on the SkyPath.

People from 42 countries sent in a total of 10,000 submissions – all within ten days.
It was all achieved by simplifying Auckland Council’s online submission form and pre-filling some sections to save time and waste.

Mearns, the communications officer for Generation Zero, says the wopping public participation in planning shouldn’t be a one-off.

Generation Zero is inspired by bus, tram and bike-friendly city planning in Vancouver and Melbourne. Speakers from both of those cities will be sharing their visions at the Harrison Grierson Young Planners Congress on April 14.

The freshest generation of Auckland architects, planners, designers and theorists are convening there, where they’ll discuss designing their communities from the bottom-up. All members of the public interested in planning, qualified planners and Generation Zero supporters are urged to attend.

Auckland Transport’s Liam Winter is organising the meeting of minds. It will feature international planning experts Charles Montgomery and Lucinda Hartley, as well as Kiwi ‘delineator’ Nat Cheshire and open data guru Nick Williamson. Julie Anne Genter – the only MP to have come straight from an urban planning career into parliament – will deliver a keynote speech.
The congress precedes New Zealand Planning Institute’s national conference at the Aotea Centre, but has a distinct flavour of its own.

Many of its speakers worked in planning through their 20s and, now aged in their 30s, these digital natives operate with a different perspective to senior planning officers.

Winter says planning can be “impenetrable” to laypeople.

“The result traditionally is a paltry rate of planning participation, and arguably a tendency for weight to be given to self-interest over greater societal benefits.”

“Generation Zero’s utilisation of social media technology to engender planning participation … has been an unqualified success in terms of sheer numbers,” Winter says. “The Young Planners Group commends Generation Zero’s leaders for their efforts in breaking down barriers to planning participation for young people.”

Get in quickly – some subsidised tickets to the Young Planners Congress are available here.