Michail Galanakis

... so what?: limitations of participatory design on decision-making in urban planning

This article addresses certain Participatory Design (PD)-related aspects of the project OurCity that took place in Meri-Rastila, a multicultural suburb in East Helsinki, Finland. The aim of OurCity was to democratize design processes and to empower local residents to influence the redevelopment of their area. PD processes were a key component to the OurCity project and its activities, particularly in relation to the process of drafting an Alternative Master Plan (AMP) for the area. The plan competed with, and lost by a narrow margin to, the plan drafted by the Helsinki City Planning Department. The scope of PD was underestimated because AMP, the design object, was envisioned in isolation from the participatory process it entailed. Had PD been presented as crucial to the process, AMP would have greater impact. In this article, we argue that it is necessary to make PD processes more visible in the end products of participatory planning. We base this argument on firsthand experience as members of the OurCity team and on an analysis of printed media and digital texts.

Public Spaces for Youth? The Case of the Jane-Finch Neighborhood in Toronto

This article examines how public spaces shape racialized youth growing up in a multicultural city. It focuses on youths in the Jane-Finch neighborhood of Toronto presenting their fears, sociospatial practices, and aspirations for social inclusion and urban spaces. Research data consist of interviews with stake-holders and social providers working with youth in Toronto, in general, and in Jane-Finch, in particular. In addition, the article relies predominantly on a focus group discussion with 13 young women and men that took place in The Spot Youth Centre located in Jane-Finch in June 2011. In August 2013, two Black teenagers were killed in the area of Jane-Finch in North-West Toronto. This article was inspired by these tragic losses.