PPGIS for a better understanding of peoples values: experiences from Finland and the Faroe Islands

Abstract

People’s experiences and knowledge of their living environments are an essential core source of information for decision-making regarding land use and natural resources. European Union (EU) directives require citizens to be involved in land use planning and, in many countries, legislation states the need for such involvement. In Finland, for example, the Land Use and Building Act (1999) Section 1 states: ‘The Act also aims to ensure that everyone has the right to participate in the preparation process, and that planning is high quality and interactive, that expertise is comprehensive and that there is open provision of information on matters being processed’. Indeed what we now see is that the traditional implementation of “top-down” planning has shifted more towards bottom-up planning, where initiatives come from citizens as well as from planning authorities (Sieber, 2006).