The process of digitisation in the
public sector is moving forward in many European counties and
the area of territorial planning is no exception.
The digitisation process is driven by ideas of efficiency,
expressed, for example, in the concepts of 'smart cities' and
'digital governance', by ideas to improve the quality of, and
level of participation in, public services, as with concepts
such as 'open government and 'open data', and by aspirations
towards a new form of economic growth and business opportunities
based on the 'oil' of the 21st century - data.
The digital transition is also playing an increasingly important
role in territorial planning.
The digitisation of territorial plans and of territorial
planning processes has already been happening in many European
countries in recent decades.
The DIGIPLAN project, conducted by the ESPON research programme
specialised in regional-policy analysis, contributes to the
analysis of the approaches used by different national planning
systems, providing an overview of the digitisation of
urban-planning data in a number of European countries.
The study revealed that digital urban plans improved work flows
and planning practices for the planning authorities, thus
helping to reduce the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, digitisation enables citizens and users to obtain
the precise information they need, increasing transparency and
the level of involvement of the parties interested in planning
issues.
According to the researchers, the digitization of territorial
plans is mainly a top-down process, in which the ministry or
competent authority propels the process, especially in
centralized States.
Other elements that have contributed to accelerating the
digitization of territorial plans are the implementation of the
Inspire directive, which aims to guarantee the compatibility of
spatial-data infrastructure among all the Member States, and the
more general push towards digitalisation and technological
development.
The researchers said that the digitization process has reached
different stages in the countries analysed, depending on, among
other things, the amount of resources allocated to it, when it
started and the level of competence in spatial planning of the
public authorities involved.
They concluded that future developments could be influenced by a
reset of priorities and by eventual budget restrictions
following the pandemic.
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