Citizen science in urban planning offers lessons for urban researchers in the Mekong region

This was the critical question discussed by panelists at a seminar on knowledge co-production hosted by Chulalongkorn University recently.

Also known as “citizen science”, it is an approach where the public participates in scientific research or at least in scientific data gathering and contributes together with the researcher to improve understanding of a topic or issue.

Researchers from SEI Asia shared case studies to show how citizen science works in practice in urban planning, and its challenges and obstacles, and offered valuable lessons for researchers in the Mekong region.

Participatory GIS (PGIS)

Diane Archer, PhD, one of the panelists from SEI Asia, shared how her team employed innovative ways to engage with citizens in social science for an initiative called City Health and Wellbeing (CHeW).

In this approach, residents identified social places, relaxing spots, exercise places and stressful areas for them in the city. The analysis was followed by a well-being survey with a standardized questionnaire to understand how the residents felt – stress and negative thoughts – related to the result of the PGIS exercise. Some citizen science activities mapped the illegal waste dump around the city.

Transect walks

Another participatory experiment is called transect walks. People wore heart rate sensors while walking from busy roads to quieter areas like parks or vice versa to understand if the urban environment affects residents physically, determined by their heart rate variability as they passed busier areas to calmer areas.

Photovoice

To assess the walkability of an area, communities participated in activities like focus groups and photovoice to see what makes a particular area or street walkable. They spotted some challenges, such as a lack of shady green areas, lack of pavement, etc.

Mental mapping

In another exercise, mental mapping, the communities drew their local environment and tried to identify challenges that make their neighborhood less walkable—nonfunctioning traffic lights, poorly designed junctions, etc. All this information is shared with local municipalities, which are also key stakeholders.

The initiative has led to a co-produced urban toolbox for livable cities accessible to all interested stakeholders.

She highlighted that citizen science is essential in making sense of what really matters for the communities who live in urban areas. The information also must flow in both directions: scientists and communities. Communicating and involving residents who live in the area and who use the urban infrastructure is necessary to plan a livable city. Citizen science makes it possible to hear different perspectives of different social groups and communities.

But it entails some challenges as well. It is a time–consuming process to engage different communities – from trust building to maintaining long-term engagement. Participation is also limited to older generations who are retired and have more time. Younger people who tend to have less time and tenants who live only temporarily are less engaged; hence their voices are missing.

She mentioned another challenge that the authorities are respected and open to collected information and knowledge, but their decisions are constrained by annual budgets and planning in what they could make use of the knowledge.

Despite many challenges, this process of knowledge co-production allowed researchers and citizens to understand what matters in urban planning and seeking practical solutions.

This piece is a reflection from the seminar on “Making Social Research Matter: How Co-production of Knowledge can Create Social Transformation in the Age of Radical Disruption”, held in celebration of the 50th year anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI) on the 23^rd April.

*Photo 1: Mekong River at Huay Xai, Laos. Photo: Jean-Baptiste NORE / Unsplash.

*Photo 2: SEI's Diane Archer at the international seminar: “Making social research matter: how co-production of knowledge can create social transformation in the age of radical disruption.” Photo: Variya Plungwatana / SEI Asia.