Towards an improved feeling of community / Planning and a feeling of community

Today the availability of all or part of the information used by local councils/town planners to the general public potentially allows everyone to have access to the rules, constraints and contradictions which govern the choices and decisions made.

The possibility to offer an on-line, constantly up-dated map of the rural district or borough highlighting the links of interdependence could reinforce the feeling of belonging to a local community. The main advantage is that public consultation and debate would become easier.

Only real public debate can give meaning to future urban planning and give it its full force, motivating and uniting the different interest groups in the area concerned.

However the possibility of downloading the same information onto one's private PC in addition to the availability of technical software enabling one first of all to make amendments, projects, and secondly analyse the impact will allow the individual to draw up solutions/proposals which would be both technically and legally acceptable.

Thus urban solutions could be put forward without taking into account the general well-being of the community as a whole, satisfying only individual objectives and possibly segregating and dividing the population.