CitizenLab raises 2.1 million euros to develop its e-democracy platform across Europe
Official communications – 15 May 2019 CitizenLab has just raised 2 million euros to accelerate the international roll-out of its citizen participation platform. These new funds will fuel the company’s...
One tool, multiple possibilities: three examples of participatory budgeting
Recently, participatory budgeting has been the talk of the town(s). It would be a mistake to disregard them as a fad as they are, in fact, powerful tools used to make local governance more accessible and...
Is this a golden age for localism?
At the Nesta Government Innovation Summit last September, Geoff Mulgan, chief executive at Nesta, made a surprising declaration. In the midst of an unprecedented political crisis, he announced “a golden age for...
How much does a citizen participation platform cost?
When it comes to citizen participation, cost is often the elephant in the room. It is often cited as one of the main barriers for cities and local governments hesitant to launch participation projects. Large scale...
The development of participatory budgeting in South America
Participatory budgeting has spread across the world with successful cases in Vancouver as well as cases in Europe, but did you know that it all originated in South America? This participation method is a democratic...
10 Easy ways to be a more engaged citizen
If you clicked the title of this article, you’re probably looking for a way to leave a mark on your local community. But it’s easy to get sucked into the grind of everyday life. When we’re juggling...
Why citizen participation is key for policymakers
Citizen initiatives are gaining popularity, citizen assemblies are proposed as a solution to defrost polarised debate, and overall, there are more participation methods to choose from than ever before. We see that...
How to support local citizen initiatives
From London to Hong Kong, people around the world are demanding that their voices be heard by their government. Citizen initiatives are the practice in which citizens speak up to counter how their current...
Why being skeptical of democracy and government is not (always) a bad thing
Today’s political landscape is characterised by strong polarisation, a sense of unease, and a decline of trust in our governments (and democracy as a whole). Across the globe, this evolution has led to the...
Monthly Civic Tech must-reads #2
It’s October, and fall is officially here! Those rainy afternoons are perfect to settle down inside with a hot cup of tea and some food for thought. Every month, we curate a list with the most interesting reads...
4 main insights from the CrowdLaw conference
How can technology tap into the collective intelligence of the public and improve the quality of lawmaking? That’s precisely the focus of CrowdLaw, a movement, which originated from The GovLab, and consists...
How to choose the right participation method
Survey, idea gathering, participatory budget… when launching a citizen participation project, there are many options to choose from. A survey will yield different answers and reach different audiences than a...
Are citizens’ assemblies the future of participation?
Citizens’ assemblies are as ancient as democracy itself, yet, they have received increasing attention in recent years. Assemblies are repeatedly mentioned as a solution for the most troublesome policy debates...
Trends for youth civic engagement: online, inclusive, and local
By the time you finish reading this sentence around 30,000 tweets have been posted to Twitter and 200,000 searches have been made on Google. Technologically speaking, the world is moving faster than ever before....
5 tips from citizens for your participation project
At CitizenLab, we want to shape digital citizen participation. As cities are increasingly becoming more important than nations, it’s time to unlock that powerhouse of collective intelligence. CitizenLab’s...
CitizenLab is growing: meet our new team members!
As Civic Tech gets bigger, better and bolder, more and more people become convinced of its power. That counts for government officials and citizens, but also for professionals – and it shows. Today,...
How to measure impact in Civic Tech
Even though it is widely accepted that digital participation is beneficial for citizens and governments alike, measuring the impact of civic tech projects is still a challenge for many local governments. Citizen...
5 key takeaways from the Nesta Government Innovation Summit
Where will governments be in 30 years? What are the main challenges civil servants will be facing in the next decade? What does the future of citizen participation look like? The Nesta Government Innovation Summit...
Monthly Civic Tech must-reads #1
Welcome democracy fanatics, outspoken citizens, dedicated political leaders, techies, and everyone in between. This is our first curated list of Monthly civic tech must-reads! This month we are exploring a wide...
Why Citizen Initiatives are vital to local democracy: 4 key success factors
Citizen initiatives are often presented as a potential antidote in the face of growing political disaffection in many parts of the world. However, all citizen initiatives differ from each other. We identified 4 key...
What is the difference between artificial and collective intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence, Collective Intelligence… these notions might sound like they come from coming from a distant future, but they are actually becoming reality. Both hold great promises, and both have...
What is the Difference between Citizen Engagement and Participation?
Over the last few years, there’s been a shift from top-down governance to more horizontally organised types of government. This new political current includes all the stakeholders of public policy projects,...
Citizen Initiatives: a new feature to increase citizens’ say in policy-making
The time of top-down governance is coming to an end. As demands for more transparency and citizen involvement are growing, citizen-led change is happening everywhere across the world. Whether it’s on social...
Citizens’ initiatives: moving from low to high politics
Over the last years, civic technology has increasingly reached maturity, as more and more governments have started using online platforms to consult their citizens. However, most of these consultations are done on...
What’s the difference between deliberative and participatory democracy?
Deliberative and participatory democracy seem to be pretty similar. And they are, in ways: both are democratic systems that give citizens a role in governance. In both deliberative and participatory democracies,...
Civic tech tools and the future of elections
Civic tech is now everywhere. Technological innovations have invaded the democratic field, and these tools are in the process of reinventing the way local governments interact with their citizens. From...
![15+ Must-Attend Upcoming Smart City Conferences [Fall 2019 Update]](https://www.citizenlab.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/markus-spiske-QsOEYVZvUiI-unsplash-500x334.jpg)
15+ Must-Attend Upcoming Smart City Conferences [Fall 2019 Update]
Every year, there are hundreds of interesting Smart City events across the globe, allowing you to network and connect with government leaders, civic tech startups and other urban innovators. Grab your calendar and...
5 political documentaries to watch this autumn
As the nights are getting crisp and summer is slowly fading, we’re spending more and more time indoors. But that doesn’t mean we have to hibernate. As it turns out, Netflix streams a wide range of...
Civic tech reads of the week #28
Hello civic tech enthusiasts, hello smart city nerds, hello citizen participation fans! Summer might be almost over, but new digital democracy projects are starting all over the world. Here’s what we’ve...
What’s the Difference Between “Civic Tech” and “GovTech”?
This article was published on Apolitical. Find the original article here. In recent years, “Civic Tech” and “GovTech” have become popular catch-phrases, often loosely used to describe innovations in the field of...
CitizenLab launches in Chile, Latin America
Awareness about the value and importance of citizen participation is gradually spreading across the globe. As a result, we’ve got some very exciting news to share: CitizenLab is launching in Chile! CitizenLab is...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #27
For all you democracy devotees and civic tech connoisseurs, here’s our brand-new weekly reading list! This week we’re discussing city health, AI, training the leaders of today, populism, and a...
Citizen Initiatives in Europe: an introduction
Citizen initiatives are participatory tools that allow citizens to influence their local institutions by collecting signatures. They generally don’t require a lot of effort and have the potential to reach a wide...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #26
Happy Friday, dear readers! We hope you’re unwinding on a beach or tasting wine in a charming French village. But in case you’re not, we have a brand-new selection of interesting civic tech reads to...
Case Study: a tidal wave of ideas in Leuven
The Flemish city of Leuven (101,000 inhabitants) has made the leap towards citizen participation. With the slogan “Leuven, maak het mee” (a play on words that implies both “experience the...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #25
To all you city administrators, citizens, techies and democracy enthusiasts: welcome to the 25th edition of our weekly Reading List! 25 weeks ago we decided to browse the web for the most interesting civic...
Small towns, big ambitions: digital participation in cities with less than 10.000 inhabitants
The enthusiasm for citizen participation is reflected by the growing number of consultation initiatives being carried out by local governments across the world. Of course, budgets vary from one municipality to the...
