Global Resources and Promising Practices for Building and Refining Accessible and Inclusive Smart Cities from Darren Bates LLC.
According to the American Psychological Association, Citizen Engagement is “individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern.” In this context, the term citizen is not used in a legal sense but is understood in the broad sense of referring to all people in a society or country in an inclusive and nondiscriminatory way.
Citizen Engagement requires 1) two-way interaction between citizens and the private sector within the scope of smart city development (i.e., policy dialogue, programs, projects, and advisory services and analytics) that gives citizens an equitable stake in smart city decision-making and outcomes; 2) equitable access to information and data (accessible to all people including those that use assistive technologies); and most importantly, 3) closing the feedback loop (i.e., a two-way interaction providing a tangible response to citizen feedback) to meet citizens’ needs and expectations for change as created by their engagement and interaction.
Citizen engagement activates citizens and makes smart cities government more responsive and effective.
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‘Citizen engagement requires good communication – but good communication alone is not citizen engagement’. Alec Walker-Love, Europe-based communications specialist with a background in urban mobility, reflects on a practitioner research report on citizen engagement in urban transformation. It makes sense; 72% of Europeans live in cities and this is expected to rise to 80% by 2050
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n a time of urban transformation and digitalisation of smart cities, too little attention is sometime given to citizens. Citizen Focus Action Cluster strongly believes in citizens as fundamental actors for the regeneration and development of smart cities. Civic engagement, empowerment, participation and co-creation are at the basis of our advocacy approach since we acknowledge that citizen voice can be pivotal in providing the demand-side pressure on government, service providers and organisations needed to encourage full response to citizen needs…
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From November 14 to 16 it’s again all smart cities in Barcelona at the occasion of the 2017 edition of Smart City Expo World Congress where people empowerment, active citizen participation and even participative democracy are omnipresent.Smart cities need informed, aware and empowered citizens with active citizen participation
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Source: Inclusive Smart Cities: a European Manifesto on Citizen Engagement | EIP – Smart Cities and Communities Market Place
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While nearly every major city holds a 2020 digital city strategy, there is still a major disconnect between strategy and execution. More often than not, cities invest in multi-year digital cities master plans. However, the experience of building thriving digital enterprises reveals that designing a master plan years in advance is simply not feasible. Rather than try to perfectly design…
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Persons with disabilities have often been neglected and excluded from the various plans, schemes and campaigns of the Government. A case in point is the SMART Cities Mission that has hardly any mention of accessibility for persons with disabilities. More importantly, with technology being the cornerstone of the SMART Cities initiative, the already existing digital divide will only grow further if it…
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A new whitepaper ranking the top factors necessary for designing and implementing smart city strategies has been published by technology-driven design firm, IBI Group. Top 10 Smart City Success Factors, released ahead of the 2017 ITS World Congress hosted in Montreal, draws on the firm’s experience designing smart cities and delivering intelligent transportation systems internationally. It aims to shed light…
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Cities, the American-Canadian author Jane Jacobs once observed, are engines for national prosperity and economic growth. But in their current form, modern cities are also catalysts of inequality and environmental degradation. Today, the share of city dwellers in poverty is growing; 33 per cent live in slums; and 75 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions originate in metropolitan areas.…
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The secret to citizen engagement. Lessons from a Manchester success story.Does your project’s success depend on the involvement of citizens? But are you struggling to interest or motivate them? In Manchester, Dave Coleman and his team have developed a method with which they have so far managed to excite and engage over 4.000 people about climate change. Not just the…
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In our updated list, discover how local governments around the world are preparing smart cities for 2018 using open data! Source: 40 Brilliant Open Data Projects Preparing Smart Cities for 2018 — CARTO Blog
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This workshop will feature current tools utilized by developers and cultural organizations to help improve access and inclusion for people with disabilities. From website accessibility to the development of innovative apps, the session will feature a range of potential options for cultural administrators and organizations to explore. We will discuss best practices for online and digital accessibility, highlight innovative apps…
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To develop digital skills and improve accessibility, the City of Boston established a Digital Equity Fund on Friday to assist community organizations that help residents engage online.Mayor Marty Walsh said that before the end of the year, Boston will award $35,000 to local nonprofits that help close the digital equity gap in the city. The funding may be allotted to…
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A webinar will be hosted by the Smart Sustainable Districts (SSD) network on 17 October from 14:00-15:30 CEST detailing its successful citizen engagement solutions and strategies. Source: Webinar: Citizen engagement in Smart Sustainable Districts projects – Daily Planet
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