English abstract
In an ever-changing world with rapid boost of urbanization and population, many cities
are urged to become sustainable and smart cities (SSC), and Oman is not an exception.
The country is aiming to convert the Omani cities into sustainable and smart cities as
part of its vision for 2040. Oman vision 2040 roadmaps the country future for the
coming 20 years and it focuses, through several objectives, on sustainable
development of all the sectors e.g., social, environmental, and economy.
In order to insure a smooth and successful transit towards SSC, a full understanding
for the elements that lead to the successful implementation shall be presented. This
should include not only aspects of environmental and economical sustainability but
also social sustainability which include several elements and pre-requisites. Among
these elements and one of the most important factors is citizens' participation. Many
authors and practitioners interwoven the presence of effective citizens' participation
with the successful implementation of a sustainable and smart city from social
sustainability perspective. Citizens' participation refers to the involvement of the
citizens along with the government in the process of decision making especially when
it comes to the design and the management of a city. Within the smart city context,
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is employed for fostered and more
effective participation practice in urban planning that is known as Digital Participatory
Planning (DPP).
In Oman, and despite the tendency of the Omani government to achieve SSC, citizens'
participation in urban planning is seldom and limited and current endeavors are still in
the early stages. To avoid failing the implantation of SSC, a proper DPP needs to be
considered henceforth. In response to this need, this research suggests a mechanism to
integrate DPP in the current planning process in Oman. Prior to that, it establishes an
assessment framework for the level of readiness and acceptance among the local
stakeholders –including the government and the society- for the concept of DPP as a
prerequisite for any on-ground DPP implementation.
For doing so, a combination of qualitative and quantitate research methods were
adopted including literature review, pile sorting, semi-structured interviews,
questionnaires, process mapping, and participation experiment using a 3D interactive
digital platform namely "Modelo". Starting with a comprehensive literature review
that was conducted mainly to elicit list of factors and indicators that have direct impact
on the readiness level of the planning stakeholders including the governments, and the
local society. This was followed by pile sorting session with local experts to customize
the suggested framework in a way that ensures it relevancy to the Omani context. After
that, two questionnaires were designed, one for the local citizens and the other for the
concerned planning authorities in Oman. Then the data obtained from both
questionnaires were analyzed statistically using SPSS to assess the level of readiness
for both the government as well as the society for the concept of DPP. The analysis
included descriptive and inferential statistical tests. Simultaneously, key documents
analysis followed by series of interviews with the concerned officials of the planning
authorities were carried out to map out the current planning process that has been
practiced in Oman, based on which a DPP interventions were suggested. Lastly, an
experimental case study was performed wherein engagement of local citizens was
conducted using a digital platform on an ongoing planning project in the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Planning (MoHUP), which helped to identify how feasible of the
suggested DPP process in Oman.
The obtained results showed that the suggested framework by the literature had to be
customized first to fit the Omani context, prior to its utilization in the preparation of
the two questionnaires. The outcome of the two questionnaires revealed that there is
an inventible well among the local citizens to take part in the urban planning issues,
however, more efforts are required to enhance first, the trust between citizens and the
policy makers and second, the internet services through which an effective
participation can occur. Whereas on the government side, the results indicated that
Omani planning authorities have an adequate infrastructure that can enable DPP, yet
experienced administration team is needed. Furthermore, the planners showed a
positive attitude towards DPP, however trust on citizens' comments and opinion shall
be strengthened.
On the other hand, the results of the key document analysis and the interviews showed
that there are four levels of urban planning in Oman that includes national, regional,
structural, and detailed levels. Both the national and regional were finalized and
approved recently and the structural level is under-development. Therefore, the
suggested interventions of DPP are best to be considered for the detailed level during
the time of its development. Henceforth, the process followed in the detailed level of
urban planning were broken-down into steps to identify level, time, and method of
DPP suggested from each step.
The last part of this study focuses on checking the feasibility of applying DPP process
in Oman. To do so, a DPP experiment was conducting by using actual project from
MoHUP and inviting local citizen to participate through a digital participation tool.
The results obtained from the experiment showed that the digital process has met all
the criteria that were set from the literature to be available or considered for successful
digital participation process.
To sum up, this thesis mapped, for the first time, the current planning process in Oman
and introduced a framework to intergrade Digital Public Participation within this
process as a contribution to the move towards sustainable smart cities that are
encouraged by Oman Vision 2040. This framework is a result of four interrelated
studies that form the body of this thesis. These studies developed local criteria to assess
Oman readiness for DPP, assessed the readiness of both the government and the
citizens for DPP, mapped the current planning processes in Oman at four levels, and
tested the feasibility of applying DPP in a real project with real citizens. In the near
further, we hope that the findings of this study will be adopted by the local authorities
and the proposed framework will be tested in a larger scale by the MoHUP.
