A city can only be flourished when there’s a perfect harmony between a city’s officials and its citizens. But unfortunately, many citizens felt alienated by their local government in recent years.
FREMONT, CA: A few decades ago, town hall meetings and surveys were common in cities to connect with their residents. Still, modern governments aren’t connecting with their citizens like they used to do in the past due to several reasons that could negatively impact the city.
Active citizen participation is a critical part of developing a successful smart city, allowing governments to respond to constantly evolving situations and implement changes in the public’s best interests. But unfortunately, citizen participation rates are lower than ever.
Therefore, citizen engagement is essential - but unfortunately, improving engagement by encouraging citizens to take part is a massive challenge for local governments.
How are Cities Improving Citizen Participation?
Revolutionizing City Hall
To help solve city-wide problems, San Francisco created a Civic Bridge program. Civic Bridge can bring together residents and volunteers from the private sector with city staff. This allows city hall to work with private sector professionals to solve public challenges.
By enlisting the help of hundreds of otherwise unreachable residents, solutions to city problems such as homelessness, access to healthcare, and other social issues, fast and effective results could be produced.
Removing Barriers
Some smart cities are taking steps to bring city halls into residents’ homes. They are enlisting help from platforms such as CitizenLab. The platform boosts citizen engagement by sending data directly to public members via a user-friendly mobile interface. Officials can see the results from surveys and questionnaires in real-time.
Boosting Participation
Allowing citizens to show their interest with their funding is one way to boost participation. In addition, crowd funding can be used as a platform for citizens to show off their ideas and initiatives and highlight any potential problems in the community. The service can be used for various applications, from restoring derelict buildings to installing social health programs.
Nurturing Ideas
Encouraging public feedback is another way to encourage participation, but some local authorities go further by directly asking citizens for solutions. By allowing citizens to formulate their solutions and giving them the tools to realize those solutions, interest in city governance can grow exponentially.
Citizen engagement gives citizens a voice. It allows them to participate in the decision-making process on issues that affect the area. As a result, cities can enjoy better governance by giving residents a platform to voice their opinions and offer advice.
