UD Co-Spaces: A Table-Centred Multi-Display Environment for Public Engagement in Urban Design Charrettes N. Mahyar, K. J. Burke, J. Xiang, S. Meng, K. S. Booth, C. L. Girling, and R. W. Kellett The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, CANADA fnmayhar,jlxiang,mengxixi,
[email protected],
[email protected], and fcgirling,
[email protected] ABSTRACT UD Co-Spaces is centered on a multi-user tabletop display UD Co-Spaces (Urban Design Collaborative Spaces) is an in- that enables stakeholders to collaboratively design the fu- tegrated, tabletop-centered multi-display environment for en- ture of a neighbourhood through direct multi-touch manipu- gaging the public in the complex process of collaborative ur- lation of planning options, interactively explore design alter- ban design. We describe the iterative user-centered process natives, and cross-check with sustainability indicators in real that we followed over six years through a close interdisci- time during a session. It includes auxiliary wall displays and plinary collaboration involving experts in urban design and hand-held individual displays that extend the functionality of neighbourhood planning. Versions of UD Co-Spaces were the tabletop to better support Arnstein’s notion of engagement deployed in five real-world charrettes (planning workshops) for users [2]. The interdisciplinary project is a long-term col- with 83 participants, a heuristic evaluation with three domain laboration involving a team of human-computer interaction experts, and a qualitative laboratory study with 37 partici- (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), urban pants. We reflect on our design decisions and how multi- design, and public engagement researchers.