The role of social media in reshaping the power of third parties in urban planning

With the rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) over the past two decades, social media has become a new and vital public sphere for networking and communication in urban planning. Third parties have expanded their influence online, resulting in a profound trans-formation of power relations in urban planning. This study focuses on the influence of social media on the role, power and impact of third parties in a planning controversy in China . Based on the social network analysis of the data gathered from social media, the research enriches the understanding of the power relations between third parties and other actors in online commu-nication networks. The results show that civil society and journalism use so-cial media to leverage the power and facilitate a more communicative plan-ning process. Although online communities allow for effective organization and actions in planning issues at hand, online discussions do not represent pure public interest but the interests of certain groups.