A Web-Based Geographic Virtual Environment for the Deliberation of Alternative Urban Development Projects Prepared for Brussels

In this paper, we discuss the potentials of affordable GeoWeb 2.0 applications to support the deliberation of urban projects. We first introduce the conceptual design of a web-based geographic virtual environment specifically developed for the Brussels–Capital Region in the framework of a long-term postdoctoral research project. Then, we present two alternative open-source prototypes for the implementation of this conceptual design and compare their usability with experts. Furthermore, we share our experiences from two field applications in the form of a brief case study and discuss the potentials of the proposed prototypes with a focus on their usability and supported forms of design empowermen