How can residents' experiences inform planning of urban green infrastructure? Case Finland

In collaborative urban planning, one of the key questions is how the input from residents' participation can be integrated into planning and decision-making. In the planning of the urban green infrastructure, this input is necessary for understanding how residents experience and value their living environment. Use of this input is particularly challenging, however, because of the prominent role of ecological expert information. In this study, we investigate how public officials, decision-makers and stakeholders see the role of the input produced by residents' participation in informing the planning of the urban green infrastructure. We consider (1) how these actors see the role of residents' experiences, as compared to ecological information, in informing planning and (2) what kind of roles residents' input can play in informing and thereby improving the planning processes. In the Helsinki metropolitan region, Finland, data were obtained using 33 semi-structured expert interviews conducted with officials, decision-makers and stakeholders, including as representatives of residents members of resident or nature associations and landowners. We present a typology of ways of thinking concerning the role of residents' experiences and ecological issues in planning and a typology of the roles of resident's input in improving planning. The use of residents' input has the potential to improve planning in many ways, but its use remains case-dependent. Our findings could generate further discussion on (1) the implications of diverse conceptions of relevant knowledge in planning and (2) the design of collaborative processes in which residents' input is an integral part of urban planning.