Civic Engagement Archives

September 21, 2017 • 0 Comments How to Implement Successful Online Citizen Participation: 5 Tips We Heard From the Citizens Themselves

At CitizenLab, we come to work every day because we want to shape digital citizen...

August 15, 2017 • 0 Comments 6 Urban Projects Built Thanks to Online Civic Engagement

Citizens and administration often work hand in hand on a lot of different projects: culture,...

August 10, 2017 • 0 Comments 13 Podcasts About the City of Tomorrow [Updated]

If you need company during your tanning sessions on the beach, a relaxing sunday evening on...

July 20, 2017 • 0 Comments How Liège Gathered 95k Votes on Its Civic Engagement Platform in Less than 4 Months

“We have been pioneers in citizen participation, but this time we really want to accelerate...

June 19, 2017 • 1 Comment 3 Citizen Profiles You May Be Missing out If You Don’t Use Online Citizen Participation

As a policy-maker, you are aware that citizen participation is key to building inclusive municipalities....

May 22, 2017 • 0 Comments Civic Tech’s Next Breakthrough? Spatial Cocreation

Crowdsourcing platforms already are a great solution for environment planning, but they could revolutionise it...

April 19, 2017 • 0 Comments How to Measure Success in Online Citizen Engagement

Engaging citizens in policy-making on the internet is a relatively new practice, but one that...

March 31, 2017 • 0 Comments 5 Tips for Opening Government Data

It seems we still live in the infancy of open government data, which is all...

March 7, 2017 • 0 Comments Opening Government Data for Citizen Engagement [a Checklist]

It seems we still live in the infancy of open government data, which is all...

March 1, 2017 • 1 Comment How can open data feed citizen engagement?

Open Belgium 2017 –the Belgian conference on open knowledge– is now only a few weeks...

Somber view of political participation in Belgium

February 14, 2017 • 0 Comments Belgium Has Got a Problem with Citizen Participation

The Economist has just released the ninth edition of its annual Democracy Index, and it...

February 6, 2017 • 0 Comments Designing Community Participation, Building Political Engagement

Opportunities to engage directly with decision-making have been flourishing for citizens over the last few...

citizen engagement vs citizen participation

January 3, 2017 • 0 Comments What is the Difference between Citizen Engagement and Participation?

Over the last years, there has been a shift from a top-down governance to a...

December 27, 2016 • 2 Comments 8 Steps to Effective Participatory Budgeting

Participatory budgeting is an important process for inclusive and accountable governance. It allows cities and towns to...

December 20, 2016 • 5 Comments Participatory Budget: The Beginners Guide

A participatory budget is an innovative policymaking tool which directly involves citizens in policy decisions. It...

December 12, 2016 • 2 Comments 3 Tips to Blend Online and Offline Citizen Engagement

Online or offline citizen engagement, which strategy is best? Both online and offline platforms have their...

November 13, 2016 • 0 Comments 5 Citizen-Centric Sessions You Cannot Miss at SCEWC16

Gathering over 600 cities and more than 14.000 visitors, the Smart City Expo World Congress...

October 31, 2016 • 4 Comments How These 10 Belgian Cities Are Using CitizenLab

Already more than 10 Belgian cities and municipalities are using CitizenLab to boost their online citizen...

October 11, 2016 • 1 Comment How to Inject Startup Mentality into Bureaucratic Governments

Governments – these bureaucratic, inefficient organisations we all know – are more and more willing...

September 27, 2016 • 6 Comments 4 Emerging Technology Trends in Citizen Engagement

Digital technology is rapidly transforming the way cities are engaging with their citizens, and vice...

September 5, 2016 • 1 Comment From Talk to Action: Kickstart Your Smart City Plans

Wondering how to make your city smarter? But what does the buzzword “smart city” actually...

August 10, 2016 • 5 Comments 5 Most Common Myths About Citizen Participation

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about citizen participation and what it entails....

July 27, 2016 • 7 Comments The Ladder of Citizen Participation in the Digital Era

Citizen participation refers to the process during which citizens are given the opportunity to participate...

July 12, 2016 • 1 Comment Open Data for Government: A Gentle Introduction

“Open data is the idea that some data should be freely available for everyone to...

June 28, 2016 • 1 Comment Three Alternatives to a Referendum

With the Brexit just behind us, questions arise about the eligibility of a referendum for...

June 8, 2016 • 6 Comments City as a Platform: How It Changes Governance

What is the future role of city governments? As digital technologies are changing the way...

May 11, 2016 • 0 Comments Four Steps to Enhanced Crowdsourcing

Over the past decade, crowdsourcing has grown to significance through crowdfunding, crowd collaboration, crowd voting,...

May 4, 2016 • 0 Comments Why Govtech Is Europe’s Next Big Thing

Even in the digital era we’re currently in, using online government services can sometimes feel...

5 inspiring talks about how government will change in digital age

April 19, 2016 • 0 Comments 5 Inspiring TED Talks About Our Governments In The Digital Age

New governance technologies are redefining authority and change what it means to be a citizen in the...

CitizenLab: Smart Cities are created by Smart Citizens

April 12, 2016 • 2 Comments Only Smart Citizens can enable true Smart Cities

The concept of a Smart City, as advertised by tech giants like IBM, Cisco and...

April 5, 2016 • 4 Comments Gamification in Citizen Participation

Before getting your hands dirty with building a citizen participation programme, rethink why citizens would...

March 29, 2016 • 2 Comments 10 Must-Read Books About The City Of Tomorrow

With the Easter holidays coming up, you might find some more time to grab a...

March 24, 2016 • 3 Comments 5 Ways Crowdsourcing Serves Our Governments

Friedrich Hayek wrote in 1945: “The knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make...

February 5, 2016 • 4 Comments Why Citizen Experts Are The New Paradigm

We have the means to build a strong digital environment where citizens can connect with each other....

February 1, 2016 • 0 Comments 5 Tips for Civic Hacking

Last weekend, the Hack With Refugees hackathon took place in the heart of Europe (yup,...

January 12, 2016 • 0 Comments Hack With Refugees: A Roundup

More than one month ago, CitizenLab started — in collaboration with a community of Brussels-based...