Planning of public open spaces with digital tools. The example of the WAY CyberParks

The aim of this chapter is to discuss how digital technology can assist public open spaces’ planning processes. It is centred on the opportunities that digital technology offers to aid spatial planning, by introducing the monitoring tool WAY CyberParks, developed and tested within the CyberParks Project. This digital tool intends to increase information and knowledge about places in order to create more inclusive public spaces that correspond to the needs of their users. The digital tool, developed to monitor how people use public spaces and as an exchange interface between users and planners, increases the understanding of users’ needs and preferences. The challenge is to attract users to engage with the app during their visit to public spaces and define the number of users required to obtain a representative sample. One of the main objectives of this digital tool is to allow strong public participation, therefore users’ opinions should be representative. As a result, WAY CyberParks intends to be a tool to be used by planners in the co-creation of public spaces. The analysis of the tests of WAY CyberParks in Lisbon serves to demonstrate the features of this tool and the type of data gathered. This chapter makes an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of this tool, and the advantages of using digital tools in the processes of planning and co-creating public open spaces.