Finding Places

HCI Platform for Public Participation in Refugees' Accommodation Process

authored by

Ariel Noyman, Tobias Holtz, Johannes Kröger, Jörg Rainer Noennig, Kent Larson

Abstract

This paper describes the conception, development and deployment of a novel HCI system for public participation and decision-making. This system was applied for the process of allocating refugee accommodation in the City of Hamburg within the FindingPlaces project (FP) in 2016. The CityScope (CS) - a rapid prototyping platform for urban planning and decision-making - offered a technical solution which was complemented by a workshop process to facilitate effective interaction of multiple participants and stakeholder groups. This paper presents the origins of CS and the evolution of the tangible user interface approach to urban planning and public participation. It further outlines technical features of the system, including custom hardware and software in use, utilization in real-time as well as technical constraints and limitations. Special focus is on the adaptation of the CS technology to the specific demands of Hamburǵs FP project, whose procedures, processes, and results are reflected. The final section analyzes success factors as well as shortcomings of the approach, and indicates further R&D as well as application scenarios for the CS.

External Organisation(s)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Universität Hamburg

Type

Conference article

Journal

Procedia Computer Science

Volume

112

Pages

2463-2472

No. of pages

10

Publication date

2017

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Computer Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.08.180 (Access: Open)