Facilitating PSS Workshops: A Conceptual Framework and Findings from Interviews with Facilitators

Recent research has emphasized the importance of workshops as a venue where planning support systems (PSS) are used in planning processes. Empirical studies of these workshops have previously largely overlooked facilitation, in particular the role of a moderator (steering the discussion) and/or a chauffeur (steering the PSS). Drawing on existing facilitation research, we identify four main categories of facilitation interventions: substantive, procedural, relational, and toolrelated. We use these categories to develop a novel conceptual framework for facilitation at PSS workshops. We test and develop this framework through semistructured interviews with eight experienced facilitators of PSS workshops in the US and the Netherlands. The interviews confirm the validity of the intervention categories, but also revealed a wider range of PSS-specific workshop outcomes. We conclude that successful facilitation of PSS workshops requires two different types of facilitation interventions: some to encourage PSS use, and others to prevent PSS domination of the group discussion. Facilitating PSS workshops is mainly about finding the delicate and context-dependent balance between these two extremes. P. Pelzer Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, P.O. 80.115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] R. Goodspeed (&) Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd., Ann Arbor 48109, MI, USA e-mail: [email protected] M. te Brömmelstroet Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht, 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 S. Geertman et al. (eds.), Planning Support Systems and Smart Cities, Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-18368-8_19 355