PGIS for Tiered Participatory Development Planning

Abstract

Location information is a critical factor in prioritising development planning. However, the use of maps in the planning process within Indonesian local governments is limited. In development forums such as Musrenbang, a tiered participatory planning process that operates from the village to the national level, information is often presented in tabular form without visual support. This approach lacks the visualisation, aggregation, and synchronisation necessary for effective public deliberation. Therefore, it is necessary to design a spatial-based participatory planning system to enhance tiered participatory planning through improved visualisation. A Participatory GIS (PGIS) for Musrenbang was designed to facilitate community aspirations, enable collaborative discussions, and support tiered planning processes. The PGIS was developed based on inputs collected through interviews, observations, and surveys with Musrenbang participants in Karanganyar District, Central Java, Indonesia. Testing with 50 users indicated that integrating spatial data in Musrenbang increased location awareness, supported knowledge transfer, enhanced collaboration and accommodated the creation of aspiration maps. The PGIS developed in this study contributes a foundational system for participatory spatial planning, establishing a scalable platform suitable for tiered development planning. Implementing development planning forums in other jurisdictions, as well as at provincial and national levels, requires central government regulations. The more comprehensive the coverage of PGIS, the more complex the database design, visualisation methods, and interaction models will need to be, necessitating further study.