CONTEXT & OBJETIVE
The city of Getxo, with 78000 inhabitants in the Basque country, Spain, revises the General Urban since the previous plan does not face the current situation of the municipality. Both the society and the objectives of Getxo have changed a lot; the new General Urban Plan needs an update to satisfy the citizens needs.
However, in a complex process, with many alternatives and nuances, and with objectives that affect each citizen, the interests to be taken into account are so wide that only a collaborative process, capable of taking into account the perspective and the opinions of all stakeholders may result in a satisfactory project.
OUR STRATEGY
Createlli designed a process with both digital and face-to-face tools to involve the many stakeholders.
To effectively address the complexity of a general urban plan, we divided the process into 2 phases: first we focused on knowledge building about urban planning with a series of training and information activities, and then, in a second phase, we focused on participation and the contribution of proposals.
Also, we structured the participation in 10 themes, so we could explain and analyze each of them extensively.
During the 2 phases, we had many different interaction processes with the different stakeholder groups:
- ● The face-to-face participation: 4 information sessions and exhibitions in different places of the city, sessions with children and youth in exhibitions and schools, participatory workshops collecting input with citizens (5 sessions), and political groups, 44 individual meetings offered to people with special questions, 150 interviews with a random sampling of the population and a synthesis session with the Planning Advisory Council.
- ● The online participation in www.hapo-getxo.eus, open between 1st of July and 15th of October, 2018.
RESULTS
The project was very well received, and reached over 700 people. Citizens were engaged in a constructive way, so they collaborated to decide on a future for their city. In this initial phase the process lead to a set of general goals and the criterias for the urban plan, widely supported.
The evaluation by the participants is very positive: 83% agreed that the process helped them to better understand Urban Plans, 97% was happy about the clarity and ease of understanding of the facilitators and 86% would recommend this participation process to others.
The planners are now designing the new plan. In 2019, the stakeholders will be invited to improve their proposals.
We as participation team are working with stakeholder on including the gender equality perspective in the Urban Plan in a participatory way.
