Geoweb 2.0 and Design Empowerment: A Critical Evaluation of Eleven Cases

In this paper, we present a critical evaluation of the intended levels of design empowerment in various Web 2.0-based social and geographic applications (Geoweb 2.0). This evaluation covers a survey of eleven cases which specifically relate to urban and spatial issues (OpenPlans, Nextdoor, CitySourced, Neighborland, LocalWiki, Spacehive, MindMixer,LocalData, mySociety, Ideavibes, Community Planit). By this way, we aim to provide an insight into the inclusion strategies and tools employed for Geoweb 2.0-supported citizen involvement. As a result, we observed that the aforementioned organizations view higher levels of design empowerment as secondary priorities. According to the survey participants, their focus was on data collection and providing information rather than active citizen empowerment in collaborative urban design processes. Summary 1