Digital permeation of urban planning practice: The issue of standardization

The field of urban planning is currently undergoing a profound transformation driven by digital technologies. These are increasingly used to support and automate the planning process, and have the potential to reshape the nature of planning itself and impact the core planning values of equity, transparency, efficiency, and legitimacy. One pressing issue is the growing use of standards, not only in data formats, but also in the categories that describe and regulate the built environment. While standards have been around for centuries, they have recently gained heightened importance because they are necessary for leveraging digital technologies. However, the impact of standardization on urban planning and land-use regulation remains poorly understood and under-researched. In this conceptual paper, we provide a way forward for understanding the effects of digitalization-driven standardization. The work draws from a broad range of literature to discuss the drivers of standardization and identify the pathways through which standardization unfolds. It then presents an analytical framework as a conceptual basis for studying the impact of standardization. The framework is based on a research process that links technologies, standardization pathways, regulatory practices, and core planning values. Jointly, these four aspects are viewed as the means for expanding the way we think about how digitization-driven standards are influencing core planning values.