From urgent calls for racial justice in public spaces to the recovery of small businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s obvious that urban main streets face unique economic and social challenges. Against this backdrop, cities across the country have been piloting new approaches to people-centered main streets. ...
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With a population of around 94,000, the Stirling Council area sits right in the heart of Scotland. When the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves to communities around the world, Stirling Council found itself with a conundrum: how could they get valuable community input without in-person meetings? With plans...
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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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What does it mean to be a girl in 2020? Depending on their respective countries, backgrounds, socioeconomic class, or personal circumstances, girls across the world have radically different day-to-day experiences. UNICEF wanted to hear directly from girls themselves as they shaped their priorities for local communities. In 1995, 189 countries...
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The municipality launched its participation platform “Doe Mee Leiden” at the beginning of 2020 with a survey on the redevelopment of the Roomburger Park. The intention was to look at how the park could be transformed into a fully-fledged recreational park. With more than 950 participants, this survey turned out...
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Participatory budgeting is one of the most popular forms of citizen consultation. More than just a buzzword, the tool is used by elected officials who want to make public governance more accessible and transparent. Far from applying a generic formula, each community creates its own process based on its own...
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INJUV, Chile’s National Youth Institute, is a public institution that collaborates with the government in designing policies related to youth affairs. To give millennials across the country the chance to voice their ideas on local community development, INJUV launched an online platform in the winter of 2019. As a public...
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