English to Greek Tech/Engineering Construction / Civil Engineering urban planning

BELGIUM
To set up the Local Consultative Committee in Schaarbeek/Brussels local residents, voluntary groups, entrepreneurs, other local actors and planners were invited to participate. Most inhabitants who were involved in the LCC and focus group discussions were also actively involved in the Local Commission of Integrated Development of the Neighbourhood Contract “Brabant Groen” or they were members of local associations. A General Neighbourhood Assembly was organised and an invitation to participate in it was sent to all residents of the Brabant neighbourhood. The main aim of the Assembly was to advise the project team and the LCC on the best way to develop the necessary visualisation tools for the local plans.
Members of the LCC offered advice on the development of modules as well as the development of alternative options of training materials and plan-visualisation tools. They gave ideas about how to use the PICT applications in other local projects too. The involvement of the community was direct and open. A cross-section of community members gave feedback for the development of modules, and asked for the development of specific resources that could be included in already existing communication channels. The discussions with the LCC were a valuable learning experience both for the local community and planners, and for the PICT team of researchers.
The venues chosen to house the info-participation centre and hold the training and information sessions were a local school and the temporary neighbourhood centre in the Groenstraat. Both venues were well known and easily accessible to the local population. It must be noted here that in the pilot areas of Brussels, which suffer multiple deprivation, a large share of their inhabitants have no access to computers or the internet. The groups that are mostly affected are older people, low educated and unemployed, low-income families or individuals and immigrants. However, in the past few years, the Internet became widely available through its provision in Internet-cafιs and often as an extra service in existing shops for international calls. Consequently, it was decided not to provide computers in the info-participation centres, but to focus the training sessions on the presentation of the plan-visualisation applications developed by the project team, receive feedback and test their clarity and friendliness, and then upload them in the internet for general use by all interested parties.

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