{"id":22457,"date":"2026-04-20T15:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/?p=22457"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T19:19:15","slug":"uf-faculty-and-students-publish-new-planning-theory-for-accountable-human-ai-collaboration-in-cities-in-the-journal-of-the-american-planning-association-japa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/uf-faculty-and-students-publish-new-planning-theory-for-accountable-human-ai-collaboration-in-cities-in-the-journal-of-the-american-planning-association-japa\/","title":{"rendered":"UF Faculty and Students Publish New Planning Theory for Accountable Human-AI Collaboration in Cities in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-5f2e74ebc3ffd9ee1cace87c4de49270 wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/faculties\/peng-zhong-ren\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Zhong-Ren Peng<\/a>, professor in the UF Department of Urban and Regional Planning and director\u00a0of the <a href=\"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/iadapt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design (iAdapt)<\/a>, recently published the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/01944363.2026.2640038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cSymbiotic Planning Theory: The CORE Framework for Human-AI Cocreation in Urban Planning\u201d<\/a> in the <em>Journal of the American Planning Association<\/em> (JAPA) alongside a team comprised of his current and former Ph.D. students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-c33610d7 wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture.jpg\" alt=\"Six people stand in the DCP atrium for a group photo\" class=\"uag-image-22459\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1066\" title=\"DCP-atrium-group-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-af69cdfaa5c45e8b0f85b6563d72865e wp-block-paragraph\">Left to right: Kai-Fa Lu, Yanghe Liu, Dr. Peng, Qing Hou, Qing Zhang and Khalid A. Aljuhani<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-1363c982f22e65ef1dbe2a8765e57a05 wp-block-paragraph\">The paper argues that AI should be treated not as a passive tool or an autonomous system, but as a co-creative partner in planning. While AI can generate options, reveal hidden patterns, and simulate consequences, humans must still set goals, make value judgments, and retain final authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-3f971d3907643db57d39c34514cc684e wp-block-paragraph\">The authors propose \u201cSymbiotic Planning Theory (SPT)\u201d, operationalized through the CORE framework\u2014Collaboration, Options, Refinement, and Execution\u2014to address the paper\u2019s key question: How can planners use AI without giving up human judgment, democratic legitimacy, and institutional accountability?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-287561b84f3c74d71af167b7bc7c4bdc wp-block-paragraph\">As the paper puts it: AI proposes, humans authorize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-2dd844466b1371f195b1e90a19b65931 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCities are increasingly expected to use AI to make better decisions, but the real question is who stays in charge,\u201d said Peng. \u201cOur framework is designed so that AI surfaces hard tradeoffs while humans\u2014and communities\u2014remain the decision authorities. Following rules on paper is not enough. What matters is whether outcomes are actually fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-73afd75f4f056170bcd80d6d1f952c83 wp-block-paragraph\">By operating through this CORE framework, the paper offers not only a new planning theory, but also a practical roadmap for how public agencies can use AI responsibly. This framework is supported by the paper\u2019s key mechanism, \u201cGoverned Friction\u201d, which argues that conflict between technical optimization and public values should not be hidden or treated as a nuisance. Instead, planning processes should be designed so that AI-generated proposals surface those conflicts, making them visible, debatable, and actionable. The paper describes this as a three-step cycle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-549e81a50bfc65b7bfb7a73648f57586 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Generative Provocation: AI generates an efficiency-focused baseline that exposes hidden bias or inequity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-9d18463b8f380bdcbfd7c68922e0989f wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Normative Recalibration: planners and communities translate those conflicts into formal, binding constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-0a6f305d344351613976a73cdc5de920 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Binding Re-authorization: continued model use depends on whether outcomes meet equity and accountability standards, not merely whether procedures were followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-9055a779 wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-2.29.50-PM.png\" alt=\"Figure of the CORE framework \" class=\"uag-image-22461\" width=\"2428\" height=\"1556\" title=\"Screenshot 2026-04-20 at 2.29.50\u202fPM\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-0c4ef8878c5a79ac526fb375812a41d9 wp-block-paragraph\">The CORE framework as put forth in &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/01944363.2026.2640038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Symbiotic Planning Theory: The CORE Framework for Human-AI CoCreation in Urban Planning<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-3fbc68800f4fae15dc4d9a63452d8f36 wp-block-paragraph\">Using Gainesville\u2019s shared e-scooter program as a case study, the paper examined the gap between procedural compliance and actual equity outcomes in designated Equity Zones. The city requires e-scooter vendors to deploy at least 10% of their fleet in designated Equity Zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-ac9d7dcd6680fa7015fd523519635ff9 wp-block-paragraph\">On paper, vendors were largely compliant with the city\u2019s 10% Equity Zone deployment requirement. But the outcome data showed a clear gap between procedural compliance and substantive outcomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-4bf081bc2048961b4a1333034f9eaa09 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 The Equity Zone generated only ~3% of monthly trips<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-c23f346de55287be5c45d2019ea5e9b6 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 The area around campus generated ~84% of trips<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-3ba29f5f92f3c47f23c8983c29194aa4 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Scooters in Equity Zones often sat unused for 75\u2013100+ hours<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-7c8e8057501913cd0aad5bb545ed9253 wp-block-paragraph\">This is what the paper calls the Compliance Trap: a situation in which a city follows the rules on paper but still produces inequitable outcomes in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-a9a0a9187ef093c10eb924a2a047e794 wp-block-paragraph\">To investigate the problem, the research team first used a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) model to generate a usage-maximizing baseline. That baseline concentrated scooters near campus and reproduced existing spatial inequities. Rather than treating that result as the answer, the paper treats it as a provocation \u2014 a way of making the hidden tradeoffs and inequities visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-image uagb-block-983bcad6 wp-block-uagb-image--layout-default wp-block-uagb-image--effect-static wp-block-uagb-image--align-none\"><figure class=\"wp-block-uagb-image__figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-2.36.32-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"uag-image-22463\" width=\"2404\" height=\"1186\" title=\"Screenshot 2026-04-20 at 2.36.32\u202fPM\" loading=\"lazy\" role=\"img\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-4f02be6eb2b4df693aa3cc619baf9499 wp-block-paragraph\">SPT in practice as depicted in the case study on Gainesville&#8217;s shared e-scooter program from &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/01944363.2026.2640038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Symbiotic Planning Theory: The CORE Framework for Human-AI CoCreation in Urban Planning<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-d09990128caa379c06eb50d2c7bf5467 wp-block-paragraph\">The team then conducted community engagement, including 235 survey responses, interviews, and workshops. They found that low usage in Equity Zones was linked to several structural barriers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-dc12eab2f13988c93a01ba93c4f8e08b wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Weak walking access to scooter locations<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-e684760ba509623275a743b1d474d7f9 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Competition from free microtransit<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-1e0b5c0912e80c5a93d3c90a0604fd57 wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Payment exclusion for people without bank accounts<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-f43946415beba245190ac397e885eccf wp-block-paragraph\">\u2022 Cost barriers relative to free alternatives<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-f0b8f95ca4192aef8f43a0e1e935be8d wp-block-paragraph\">These findings were then translated into binding constraints for the model, which was retrained under revised guardrails set through planner and community input. The result shifted the plan from 103 locations \/ 189 scooters to 113 locations \/ 187 scooters, with improved Equity Zone coverage and stronger transit integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-ebdaa4a9257f0a005da31f2ac41ff595 wp-block-paragraph\">This case study showed how AI can be governed not only for efficiency, but also for equity, democratic accountability, and continued human oversight. It also suggests a practical pathway that may help cities like Gainesville move from monitoring problems to acting on them through more explicit governance protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-0225f53c14cc7204c9e5d57bd372890e wp-block-paragraph\">This paper offers both a theoretical and practical framework for human-AI collaboration, showing how AI can be integrated into planning workflows without giving up human authority, public accountability, or equity goals . Notably, the paper positions Symbiotic Planning Theory alongside rational, participatory, and co-design paradigms, arguing that those earlier theories were not developed for an era in which AI can generate alternatives at machine speed and reshape how planning problems are understood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Zhong-Ren Peng, professor in the UF Department of Urban and Regional Planning and director\u00a0of the International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design (iAdapt), recently published the article \u201cSymbiotic Planning Theory: The CORE Framework for Human-AI Cocreation in Urban Planning\u201d in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) alongside a team comprised of his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":22459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Zhong-Ren Peng, professor in the UF Department of Urban and Regional Planning and director\u00a0of the International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design (iAdapt), recently published the article \u201cSymbiotic Planning Theory: The CORE Framework for Human-AI Cocreation in Urban Planning\u201d in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) alongside a team comprised of his current and former Ph.D. students. Left to right: Kai-Fa Lu, Yanghe Liu, Dr. Peng, Qing Hou, Qing Zhang and Khalid A. Aljuhani The paper argues that AI should be treated not as a passive tool or an autonomous system, but as a co-creative partner in&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">news<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"ryanhelterhoffurp","url":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/author\/ryanhelterhoffurp\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture.jpg",1600,1066,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture-1024x682.jpg",1024,682,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture-1536x1023.jpg",1536,1023,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/04\/DCP-atrium-group-picture.jpg",1600,1066,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ryanhelterhoffurp","author_link":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/author\/ryanhelterhoffurp\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Dr. Zhong-Ren Peng, professor in the UF Department of Urban and Regional Planning and director\u00a0of the International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design (iAdapt), recently published the article \u201cSymbiotic Planning Theory: The CORE Framework for Human-AI Cocreation in Urban Planning\u201d in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) alongside a team comprised of his&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dcp.ufl.edu\/urp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}