Due to the weaknesses in economic vitality and social challenges, new approaches are required to meet the changing needs of life, economy, social profile, technology and democracy in urban transformation process.

Being one of them, Planning Support Systems (PSS) became very popular in recent years in order to strengthen the participation of the community and all stakeholders in the decision-making process, enhance effective communication and monitor the effects of applied policy and management plans more effectively.

Furthermore, a great awareness has also been increased on related concepts such as resilience, participation, mobility, cooperation, environment, human capital, quality of life and governance towards a more sustainable and smart urban lifestyle. Among these concepts, “governance” has been on the focus of urban agenda which allows participatory democracy through the inclusion of citizens as well as decision makers at all steps. Both national and international literature surveys remark that Public Participation should be used effectively in urban transformation projects for smarter cities and smarter communities.

Moreover, urban transformation projects in Turkey indicates that traditional participation methods are inadequate in some dimensions such as accessing to disadvantageous groups, timing and spatial problems and ease of expression. With the development of the Internet and technology, participation methods have been diversified with tools such as urban information systems, discussion forums, and geo- questionnaires. One of these tools is Public Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PPGIS).

Within the context of this study, the pilot project has been tested in Kadıköy Historical Center through a PPGIS platform as an e- participation method. The platform has been developed to analyse the physical, social and economic dimensions of the Center and to employ a location based online survey to understand the level of participation in areas where traditional participation methods are not sufficient in urban transformation projects.