Card-Based Dialog: An AI-Assisted Format for Symmetric Citizen Participation in Urban Planning

Abstract

Two interrelated problems shape contested urban-planning procedures: a structural asymmetry between institutional initiators and the affected citizens, and a chronic lack of motivation among citizens to engage with procedurally framed participation formats. We ask how AI can support the personal, often emotional, narrative expression of citizens within a structured deliberative process. We propose card-based dialog: a format where initiators and citizens use the same AI-assisted vocabulary – visual cards in four types (frame, problem, consequence, solution) – organised in a two-tier anchor and discourse architecture mirroring the temporal logic of formal planning procedures. The work is grounded in Boal's tradition of participatory authorship and in speculative design, scenario-based design and research through design. We illustrate it through a speculative reconstruction of a recently concluded Duisburg case (Halle 2, Mercatorinsel).