Crowdfunding in Urban Planning: Opportunities and Obstacles, At Home in The Housing Market - RC43 Conference Book of Proceedings, University of Amsterdam, Centre of Urban Studies. Nederland, ISBN: 978-907-886-206-2

The Real Estate and Construction sectors, still reeling from the 2007 housing crash have understood the need to find both new ways of raising capital and worthwhile projects to invest in. The emerging paradigms of urban regeneration, rehabilitation or retrofitting have been accepted, in political and academic circles, as solutions compatible with the goals of sustainable development. To achieve these goals, local and regional institutions have increasingly looked towards planning as a way to integrate them with the desires of their communities. Today, most local governments are facing considerable economic headwinds but the needs of the people they represent have not subsided, derelict neighborhoods and neglected urban spaces still permeate our cities. Finding new ways to raise capital becomes an important task to continue the improvement of the urban environment. Crowdfunding, still in its infancy, has been touted by some as a revolutionary form of raising capital, using social networking, from large pools of unsophisticated investors committing low sums. By adjusting this method to urban planning it may become possible to better intertwine the fate of urban projects and developments with the desires of the community as they now have “skin in the game”. This may bring a sense of greater public participation but many obstacles remain. The aim of this paper is to kickstart the discussion on the ways this new concept of public participation in planning can help create better communities.