ABSTRACT
Today, public and participatory urban planning seems self-evident, but considering how long the history of human settlements is, the phenomenon is nevertheless a very recent one. In Estonia, the layers of public urban planning are even thinner, since people only escaped a totalitarian regime less than 30 years ago. Public and participatory urban planning is rather a complex model of thinking and acting that can be illustrated by a DIKW pyramid, where Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom are located on lower levels and decision-making at the very top. City Forums have been conducted following a specific format. The forums are always two-day events, similar to 48-hour hackathons. Indeed, city planning, spatial design and the role of architects in it have changed a lot and will probably keep changing in the future as well. There is no escaping until society becomes more complex and empty space is filled and depleted.
