Skip to content

PLUS Changers in the Spotlight 2: Plan4All

In the second edition of our series, PLUS Changers in the Spotlight, we introduce Plan4All, a non-profit association with a mission to advance open data and open-source technologies in spatial and urban planning.

About Plan4All

Plan4all is an umbrella organisation of more than 60 partners from 22 countries including public bodies, universities, research organisations and business partners. The organisation is a proud member of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), Big Data Value Association (BDVA), Research Data Alliance (RDA) and a Participating Organization of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO).

Plan4all is at the forefront of transforming the world of spatial and urban planning. Their core values include promoting openness, fostering collaboration, supporting sustainability, driving innovation, and ensuring inclusivity in planning practices. Through collaborative projects and the power of open data and technology, Plan4All works toward a future where planning is not just a process but a shared endeavor.

Project Role

In PLUS Change, Plan4all will design and implement a planning toolkit in the form of a digital innovation hub (DIH) based on Hub4everybody, aimed at land use decision- and policy- makers. The planning toolkit will host various project outputs including narrative storylines of land use change through time, land use strategies and techniques for exploring pathways of change, policy simulations, and interventions and trainings for their ethical use.

Additionally, Plan4all will contribute to modelling land use change scenarios from different levels. The main data source will be the Open Land Use map developed by Plan4all, a comprehensive, openly accessible geographic dataset that provides detailed information about land use and land cover across various regions.

The project results should feed into a new project on fostering a sustainable, balanced, equitable, place-based, and inclusive rural and urban areas – PoliRuralPLUS.

Expectations

In addition to bringing together diverse stakeholders, including experts from various fields, organizations, and regions, Plan4all is most excited about two points in PLUS Change:

  1. Innovation: The PLUS Change project involves the exploration of cutting-edge technologies and methodologies. Plan4all’s involvement allows us to contribute to and benefit from these innovations, which can lead to more effective and efficient solutions in spatial and urban planning.
  2. Data Accessibility: Open data is a core value for Plan4all. PLUS Change will facilitate the sharing of data and information, promoting transparency and accessibility. This can result in richer datasets that benefit not only the project but also the other communities.