Tietotekniikan soveltaminen Maankäyttö- ja rakennuslain kaavojen toteutuksen ohjelmointiin

Abstract

This research deals with a process where an information system is developed for land-use planning in a municipality´s planning organisation. A special scheduling instrument is developed. The goal of the instrument is to deal with a planning related problem: How the growth of the city should be organised as time oriented question? The zoning instruments of the Finnish land use planning system by the Land Use and Building Act are seen area-oriented and passive. The instruments of the Act do not process answer to the mentioned question. According to the observations of this research the outputs of zoning can be described as set of norms presenting how the areas can be used but the decisions what will actually be done are produced elsewhere. The particular planning problem is not relevant only in the studied organisation but a more common problem which is identified also in the literature reviewed. There were also minor solutions presented in the literature dealing with the problem but any systematic instrument to solve the problem was not presented.

The role of the literature review is to both form a context for the research problem and to create a set of research methods. The literature relating to the Finnish Land Use and Building Act is focused on the authorities either describing or commenting the zoning system included in the Act. Selected concepts and graphic instruments of the Act are reviewed to assist the understanding of the empirical material. Literature concerning the information systems of the urban planning, especially relating to the concepts of GIS, SDSS and PSS, is reviewed. Also literature on the research oriented information systems development is reviewed to assist the empirical research.

The empirical material was collected from one organisation (City of Jyväskylä, 1999-2004). The excisting information environment was analysed and developed with the defined concept of planning instrument. The researcher was not only visiting the organisation but working there, actively taking part in the process as an applier of the information technology. By this method a very common problem related to the research on the information systems for urban planning is avoided. The literature claims that the research problems often focus only on narrow planning issues and/or only on one aspect of the planning process. The applicability of the results is then limited and the research do not serve the development of the field. The empirical research focuses on collecting material for modelling the information flows of the developed area. The goal of the modelling process is to manage both the input and output data of the instrument with computer-aided methods. Also software was written to improve the information environment.

The conclusion of the research is that methods can be developed to improve the information environment towards a planning support system in practise. On the other hand, applying information technology was found useful tool to develop scheduling the implementation of land-use plans. Also totally new planning practise could be created and enabled by information technology applications. The developed instrument has become a real, iterative planning instrument for the studied organisation. Information technology plays as essential role in applying the instrument.

Keywords: zoning, urban planning, Finnish Land Use and Building Act, GIS, Planning Support Systems (PSS)