Testing New Methods for Improving the Effectiveness of Collaborative and Participatory Design and Planning Processes: Conceptual Content Cognitive Map (3CM)
by Shawna Marie Micic
Chair of the Supervisory Committee:
Assistant Professor Kristina Hill
2001
Landscape planners and designers often use collaborative and participatory
design to create environmentally responsible design solutions. However,
group work in collaborative and participatory situations can often result
in conflict and ineffective use of problem solving time. The purpose of
this research is to develop and evaluate a tool to use in participatory
and collaborative design situations that will improve the effectiveness
of group problem solving. The tool is a cognitive mapping tool, Conceptual
Content Cognitive Map (3CM), which has been used in previous studies to
explicitly reveal preconceived views or mental models of participants on
various subjects. This research applies the 3CM method to reveal preconceived
perspectives of participants of two charrette case studies for the purpose
of enhancing communication between participants and improving effectiveness
of group problem solving. The results from the two charrettes indicate that
3CM organizes participants’ thoughts prior to group work. This creates
a situation where participants go into the problem-solving task with their
thoughts already organized so that less group time is used for this purpose.
The cognitive maps resulting from 3CM explicitly reveal mental models, thus
demonstrating the varying perspectives of the problem. This creates awareness
that there is more than each individual’s own mental model. 3CM method
can be designed in such a way that each cognitive map can be used as a “tool
box” or problem solving resource for the charrette process. The findings
also reveal that 3CM is a flexible tool that allows the facilitator to respond
to the dynamics of each group and each problem while providing a framework
for organizing and implementing collaborative and participatory design processes.