A GIS-assisted method for defining an integrated vision of a climate proof Groningen

Abstract

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are commonly assumed to be useful tools for spatial planning. However, attempts to support planning processes often result in technology-driven comprehensive solutions that risk enforcement of excessive constraints on the users. We present a study in which GIS is used as a flexible integration tool that provides maximum freedom to different stakeholders to jointly define a spatial plan. In this case many collaboratively created qualitative visions of the future were integrated into one consistent map of spatial adaptations for climate change as part of the preparation for a new strategic spatial plan for the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. The paper describes a GIS-based integration method and furthermore explores the usefulness of spatial analysis methods and a 'Touch Table' in this collaborative planning process. Sector-specific adaptation measures were selected, more accurately defined and manually relocated to minimize spatial overlap. The resulting integration map showed a combination of adjusted adaptation measures that was accepted by the stake-holders in the planning process. This user-centered case study shows that flexible, generic GIS-based tools are useful to: 1) make different sector-specific planning visions more concrete by making them become spatially explicit; and 2) support their integration.

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