Digital involvement of the public and the authorities
(North-Rhine Westphalia)
Source: www.stadtplanung.guetersloh.de
Along with eleven other municipalities, the council of Gütersloh (pop. 95.000) participated in the “Pilot Project e-Government” organized by the NRW Town and Community Association (Städte- und Gemeindebund NRW), the Bertelsmann Foundation and Microsoft in 2001. The project was aimed at developing and testing e-government modules in cooperation with other municipalities and competent partners. The „planning information and involvement server“ was created as part of a research and development project in 2001/2002 in cooperation with further municipalities. In the re-enacted Building Code from 2004, article 4a, paragraph 4 takes up the possibility of using supplementary electronic information media for the involvement.
In cooperation with two further city authorities and a private operating company, the Town Planning Department of Gütersloh Council has developed a module for the online involvement of agencies responsible for public issues in land-use planning. The module is based on a "planning information and involvement server” provided by the operating company. This server is used for communication and information purposes in town planning, as well as for involvement procedures.
With the auxiliary module, authorities and other agencies responsible for public issues can be involved in land-use planning procedures online. The internet presentation is split into two portals for interested citizens and the agencies responsible for public issues. All relevant information on the objectives and content of the respective land-use plan are made available via these portals without time or space constraints. Interested citizens can take part in the legally required involvement procedure, be informed extensively and submit statements. The agencies responsible for public issues can additionally request further specific information using a password-protected access – the extranet – or submit their statements for the procedure, as well as reacting to other statements. Given this online involvement, planning documents no longer need to be compiled and despatched. The procedure saves time and costs and simplifies agency involvement in land use planning.
With the joint establishment of the portal for the involvement of citizens and the agencies responsible for public issues, Gütersloh and its partner councils have demonstrated that new participation procedures can be realized, despite empty coffers. The cooperation helps to "pinpoint investments on service optimization in a targeted fashion and simultaneously slim down the processes”.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2001/2002 | Development of the planning information and involvement server’s basic system |
| August 2002 | Practical municipal operation |
| April 2003 | Programming of the module for the agencies responsible for public issues |
| From 2004 | Operation of agency module |
Source: www.stadtplanung.guetersloh.de
Source: www.stadtplanung.guetersloh.de
Source: www.stadtplanung.guetersloh.de
The digital amenity of the planning information and involvement server supplements conventional citizen involvement procedures in land-use planning. The significant advantage is the availability of current, extensive and well-structured information without any time or space constraints. he trend-setting communication and cooperation possibilities created via the internet are very citizen-friendly and significantly simplify the elaborate agency involvement.
The project location can be directly translated into Google-maps. Project in Google-Maps
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 33330 - town: Gütersloh - street: Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 62.
Record inserted on 01.10.2004 by Lehrstuhl für Planungstheorie und Stadtplanung, RWTH Aachen and updated by theFederal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR).
Last update: 14.09.2010
