Among situations that require urban planning (UP) procedures, not all imply a need for community consultation and public participation. Yet it is highly likely that those will be the exceptions in a future of on-line links between citizens and urban administrators.

Generally, non-consultation and non-participation of the citizens in their urban affairs leads to poor or weak planning solutions. This inefficiency results in a significant waste of resources and is very often the origin of dangerous levels of social frustration, which could lead to social unrest.

The new media age of knowledge and information allows for better data storage and management. This gives urban settlements the possibility to enhance the quality of their solutions helping them to solve local problems and become more competitive. Thus improvement of community consulting and participation, through the use of information technology, will lead to better UP.

This paper proposes a theoretical approach to the issues concerning the political background of the decisions and a set of conceptual tools aiming to clarify when and to what level public participation is desirable.