Cities leverage technology to improve residents' lives and engage them in their communities.
FREMONT, CA: As the world becomes more connected, innovation enables more individuals than ever to participate in their communities—whether by volunteering for a local cause, collaborating with the municipal government to resolve a pressing issue, or expressing their views on critical public policy issues.
Indeed, cities throughout the United States and the world are leveraging developing technology for sharing, tracking, and displaying data to mobilize their citizens.
CivTech is described as the creation or application of technology that enables engagement or increased public participation in government infrastructure improvement and the enhancement of citizen communications or opportunities. CivTech is being used in a wide variety of ways around the country.
According to a Governing Institute, Accenture, and Salesforce survey of 2,000 citizens, 43 percent expressed concerns about the quality of their city or county's infrastructure, but only 26 percent reported contacting government agencies for assistance with potholes graffiti, broken sidewalks, derelict buildings, or other issues. When residents were questioned about this gap, they mentioned a lack of information, the need to rely on others to complete tasks, and a lack of time as the primary barriers to engagement.
When implemented appropriately, CivTech overcomes these barriers by providing government agencies with a user-friendly, one-stop-shop online to inform citizens about critical neighborhood issues while allowing locals to register their ideas, concerns, and complaints.
Today, most cities are beginning to answer these needs by developing dynamic online and social media sites that citizens may access via connected devices. Several are even taking it further by incorporating new technologies such as data analytics, virtual digital assistants, and blockchain.
With practically everything connected in the digital era, there is an enormous opportunity for state and local government agencies to collect, aggregate, cleanse, and analyze data to better understand their constituents' needs. The business world is embracing data analytics, and it is only a matter of time until the public sector follows suit.
For example, New York City already has a Mayor's Office of Data Analytics or MODA. It is used by city authorities to effectively collect and analyze data from numerous local agencies to solve a crime, public safety, and quality of life concerns. The city may use analytics technologies to strategically prioritize risk, improve service delivery, enforce the law, and promote transparency with citizens, who can view this data online.
