Jen Manuel

j.manuel2@newcastle.ac.uk

I have a BA and MA in Town Planning and a MRes in Digital Civics. Prior to joining Open Lab, I worked in the voluntary and community sector both in the planning field and in health, focusing on citizen participation. I facilitated a number of community-led projects including one of the first frontrunner Neighbourhood Plans as well as conducting patient and public engagement for health service reviews.

My research is focused on the role that technology can play in supporting neighbourhood planning. As a long and complex process, neighbourhood planning requires huge commitment from communities to take on the task of producing their own planning policy for their area. My work will focus on how technology can support communities in the preparation of the plan as well as how it can help to widen citizen participation to allow those who would not usually get involved in such processes to have their voice heard. My initial research project focused on the use of Bootlegger to video citizens’ opinions of their area and will hopefully contribute to a new media version of a neighbourhood plan to complement traditional policy documents.