Participatory spatial models as “boundary objects” to foster dialogue around urban planning and urban sprawl issues on Reunion Island
A collaborative framework using a spatially explicit modeling platform, Ocelet, has been designed as a territorial planning support tool in Reunion Island, where urban sprawl is a major issue. Urban development scenarios and models were constructed collectively by a group of specialists from some twenty institutions. The first group of workshops focused on a range of diverse viewpoints put forward by the different institutions on ways to resolve the problem of uncontrolled urban sprawl. Although this approach did not lead to radical changes in the opinions expressed by the stakeholders involved, a majority of participants were nonetheless positive in their assessment of the broad-based, participatory scenario used for the planning and assessment framework. The vast majority of participants recognized the value of participatory modeling for fostering dialogue and conditions conducive to collective social learning.