Quality Standards for XR Participation – Applications and Challenges in Smart, Participatory Urban Development

The expanded communication, design and participation opportunities offered by XR technologies open up additional potential for participatory urban development. The spatial representation of planning variants can promote understanding of the planning object and informed opinion-forming among those involved (Brettschneider et al. 2017: 14; Wolf et al. 2020: 125f.; Rogoll, Sinning, Wolter 2024: 58). XR participation can be applied to various types of projects, such as redesigns of public spaces or urban development framework plans, as well as to various fields of urban development, such as open space planning, mobility and building construction planning. The article addresses the following questions: What significance can XR technologies have for sustainable participatory urban development in the smart city? Which areas of application are particularly suitable? What are the potential benefits and challenges of using XR-supported participation formats? What quality standards can be identified for XR participation formats to supplement established participation guidelines for participatory urban development processes? Quality standards for democratic participation have not yet been defined for the implementation of XR participation (using AR technology or in virtual space or the metaverse). Although citizen participation guidelines have now been established in many municipalities, there is a lack of supplementary guidelines for the use of digital participation with the support of XR technologies. In the context of the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary BMFTR joint research project "XR-Part: XR participation spaces for expanded social participation in urban transformation processes" using the example of participatory planning processes in the model cities of Mannheim and Rostock, quality standards for XR participation were identified on the basis of empirical surveys during the testing of XR participation formats. They can contribute to the effective and sustainable design of XR-supported participation procedures in planning processes and ensure broad and committed participation. These quality standards range from targeted process design and time management, access equity, target group-oriented participation format design, legitimisation of visualisations, relevant visualisation of planning content, ethical, social and legal implications, to evaluation and continuous improvement of XR-supported participation formats.