Around the world, people seem to be breathing a collective sigh of relief as cities liven up with a renewed sense of hope. But the road to this point, after a year of loss and hardship, has not been easy. And often, cities were at the forefront of addressing some...
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Public spaces should be equitably distributed, open to everyone, and inclusively designed. It’s no wonder that many urban planning processes now focus on placemaking, the people-centered approach to planning and design of public spaces. More than ever before, there is recognition of the importance of neighborhoods and the significance of factors...
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Running inclusive and participatory community engagement projects requires meeting people where they are. In part, that means having a plan for multilingual engagement to ensure that everyone in your community has the ability to participate. By removing language barriers, your community engagement efforts will be more inclusive, participatory, and representative....
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Traditional, top-down governance systems are increasingly challenged by more collective, consensus-oriented approaches. This means that we’re seeing more non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working actively in consortium with local governments or launching community engagement projects themselves to increase civic participation. This uptick in organizational involvement has resulted in the creation of several...
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How do you cross the digital divide and blend online and offline (traditional) community engagement? What about during a pandemic? The City of Lancaster used online, offline, and blended approaches to ensure their diverse population was well represented in the City’s new engagement initiatives, which ranged from policing to mobility...
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We find ourselves consistently impressed by the types of projects launched on our platform. In this monthly inspiration series, we’ll spotlight some of the innovative ways governments and organizations around the world are activating and engaging their communities virtually. Let’s dive in! Belgian football club KV Mechelen brings their fan...
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Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process through which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. While PB may have started over 30 years ago, the first PB project didn’t launch in the U.S. until 2009 when Chicago became the first city in the country to try...
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