Digital Participation in Urban Planning and Design: A Typological Analysis of Interactive Mediums and Technologies Supporting Citizen Engagement

While cities increasingly adopt digital solutions to improve responsiveness, the role of citizen engagement in urban planning and design has become more critical. Digital participatory tools -including both conventional technologies like GIS and emerging AI-driven methods- promote inclusivity, efficiency, and interactivity in decision-making and co-production processes in cities. Merging the right set of tools and environments for a specific action is one of the key promoters of successful participation. This paper seeks to advance current understanding by proposing a three-dimensional typology that classifies urban interactive participatory projects according to (1) the technologies supporting participation, (2) the mediums through which citizens engage, and (3) the changing dimensions of citizen participation. The given framework enables a more structured insight into how various combinations of environments and technologies afford different forms and depths of citizen interaction, ranging from passive feedback to co-creation and policy influence. It allows for a more precise comparison across cases, helping identify patterns and gaps in current participatory practices, and supports critical reflection on how tool choices align with intended engagement outcomes.