IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/urbpla/v2y2017i3p33-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing the Use of Crowdsourced Information: Case Study of Bike-Share Infrastructure Planning in Cincinnati, Ohio

Author

Listed:
  • Nader Afzalan

    (College of Arts & Sciences, University of Redlands, USA)

  • Thomas Sanchez

    (School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech, USA)

Abstract

Considering the power of web-based tools for crowdsourcing, planning organizations are increasingly using these technologies to gather ideas and preferences from the public. These technologies often generate substantial, unstructured data about public needs. However, our understanding of the use of crowdsourced information in planning is still limited. Focusing on the City of Cincinnati Bike-share planning as a case study, this article explores the challenges and considerations of using crowdsourced information. Employing mixed analysis methods, the article analyzes participant suggestions and examines whether and how those suggestions were incorporated into the bike-share plan. Interpretive analysis of interviews provided insights about suggestions that were used in the final plan. The results highlight organizational opportunities and limitations. A variety of organizational factors affected the utility of crowdsourced information in Cincinnati bike-share plan. These include the capability of the planning organizations to analyze data and facilitate participation, and the perception of planners about the value of crowdsourced information and local knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Nader Afzalan & Thomas Sanchez, 2017. "Testing the Use of Crowdsourced Information: Case Study of Bike-Share Infrastructure Planning in Cincinnati, Ohio," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(3), pages 33-44.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v2:y:2017:i:3:p:33-44
    DOI: 10.17645/up.v2i3.1013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/1013
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/up.v2i3.1013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nader Afzalan & Jennifer Evans-Cowley, 2015. "Planning and Social Media: Facebook for Planning at the Neighbourhood Scale," Planning Practice & Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 270-285, June.
    2. Nader Afzalan & Brian Muller, 2014. "The Role of Social Media in Green Infrastructure Planning: A Case Study of Neighborhood Participation in Park Siting," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 67-83, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nader Afzalan & Thomas Sanchez, 2017. "Testing the Use of Crowdsourced Information: Case Study of Bike-Share Infrastructure Planning in Cincinnati, Ohio," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 2(3), pages 33-44.
    2. Huihui Liu & Pim Martens, 2023. "Stakeholder Participation for Nature-Based Solutions: Inspiration for Rural Area’s Sustainability in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Martí, Pablo & García-Mayor, Clara & Nolasco-Cirugeda, Almudena & Serrano-Estrada, Leticia, 2020. "Green infrastructure planning: Unveiling meaningful spaces through Foursquare users’ preferences," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Rizwan Muhammad & Yaolong Zhao & Fan Liu, 2019. "Spatiotemporal Analysis to Observe Gender Based Check-In Behavior by Using Social Media Big Data: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-30, May.
    5. Ruochen Ma & Katsunori Furuya, 2024. "Social Media Image and Computer Vision Method Application in Landscape Studies: A Systematic Literature Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Stefan Heiland & Markus Günther & Brigitte Holzhauer & Florian Kern & Josephin Wagner, 2025. "Changes in Nature Conservation-Relevant Public Participation Processes Through Digitalization: The Case of Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, February.
    7. Willemien Laenens & Wendy Van den Broeck & Ilse Mariën, 2018. "Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 140-152.
    8. Enzo Falco & Reinout Kleinhans, 2018. "Digital Participatory Platforms for Co-Production in Urban Development: A Systematic Review," International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR), IGI Global, vol. 7(3), pages 52-79, July.
    9. Jisoo Sim & Patrick Miller & Samarth Swarup, 2020. "Tweeting the High Line Life: A Social Media Lens on Urban Green Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Vera Ferreira & Ana Paula Barreira & Luís Loures & Dulce Antunes & Thomas Panagopoulos, 2020. "Stakeholders’ Engagement on Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    11. Herath Mudiyanselage Malhamige Sonali Dinesha Herath & Takeshi Fujino & Mudalige Don Hiranya Jayasanka Senavirathna, 2023. "A Review of Emerging Scientific Discussions on Green Infrastructure (GI)-Prospects towards Effective Use of Urban Flood Plains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    12. Vadim Voskresenskiy & Ilya Musabirov & Daniel Alexandrov, 2017. "Studying Patterns of Communication in Virtual Urban Groups with Different Modes of Privacy," HSE Working papers WP BRP 75/SOC/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    13. Willemien Laenens & Wendy Van den Broeck & Ilse Mariën, 2018. "Channel Choice Determinants of (Digital) Government Communication: A Case Study of Spatial Planning in Flanders," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 140-152.
    14. Andrzej Długoński & Thilo Wellmann & Dagmar Haase, 2023. "Old-Growth Forests in Urban Nature Reserves: Balancing Risks for Visitors and Biodiversity Protection in Warsaw, Poland," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-24, January.
    15. Matthew Tenney & Renee Sieber, 2016. "Data-Driven Participation: Algorithms, Cities, Citizens, and Corporate Control," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(2), pages 101-113.
    16. Jan Ãœblacker & Simon Liebig & Hawzheen Hamad, 2024. "Catalysts of connection. The role of digital information and communication technology in fostering neighbourhood social cohesion: A systematic review of empirical findings," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(16), pages 3167-3186, December.
    17. Matthew Tenney & Renee Sieber, 2016. "Data-Driven Participation: Algorithms, Cities, Citizens, and Corporate Control," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(2), pages 101-113.
    18. Falco, Enzo & Kleinhans, Reinout, 2018. "Beyond technology: Identifying local government challenges for using digital platforms for citizen engagement," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 17-20.
    19. Jisoo Sim & Patrick Miller, 2019. "Understanding an Urban Park through Big Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-16, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v2:y:2017:i:3:p:33-44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.