Co-design study demonstrates the utility and challenges of visual generative AI for community placemaking, highlighting feasibility integration hurdles.
Visual generative AI (GenAI) is increasingly used to inspire design ideas, yet evidence on its responsible and collaborative role in urban placemaking remains scarce. This paper tests a bespoke visual GenAI tool designed to support residents in re-imagining streets and public spaces. Residents from Derby, UK participated in individual and group co-design sessions, applying the tool to edit neighbourhood images and envision improvements. Findings suggest that visual GenAI can act as a responsible co-design agent, though feasibility integration remains a key challenge. This work provides an actionable workflow for urban design practice, supporting the incorporation of GenAI into placemaking processes.
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Kapsalis et al. (2026) studied this question.
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