Today, almost every democratic government is on a mission to build strong connections with their communities – and our platform is right alongside them, helping make it happen! Across the globe, government teams are leveraging a CitizenLab platform to tap into the collective intelligence of their communities and shape their futures together with residents.
CitizenLab’s versatile and user-friendly platform is a real game-changer for involving more residents in all sorts of projects – from renovating parks over drafting data management strategies to preserving historical heritage. Ready for some real-life examples? Let’s dive into six recent projects.
Plattsburgh seeks feedback on park plans (United States)
The City of Plattsburgh is asking for community feedback on the final design plans for the five parks included in its Parks Renewal Project – a project for which city councilors approved $2.6 million in funding.
To gather input for the draft regeneration plans, the city involved the community during several Parks Come Alive events held in the Summer of 2022. Now, in the second round of community feedback on the city’s platform, each park has a separate section where community members can share more ideas or comment on the draft plans.
Discover the Parks Renewal Project
London Borough of Brent surveys residents about bus stop relocations (United Kingdom)
For the past couple of years, the London Borough of Brent and key stakeholders have been exploring options to make roads safer and more accessible around the Wembley Stadium area.
The project’s second phase entails enhancing South Way pedestrian facilities and converting First Way to accommodate two-way traffic. However, these changes hinge on the relocation of bus stops for three bus lines.
Local residents and shop owners were asked for their opinion on the bus stop relocation in a survey on Brent’s CitizenLab platform. Besides the online consultation, Brent organized two public exhibitions to allow consultees to review the proposed plans and ask project managers any questions.
The consultation recently ended and the results are currently being reviewed with the local public transport body, Transport for London.
Check out London Borough of Brent’s platform here
Vienna calls on residents’ creativity to shape climate action strategy after a successful pilot project (Austria)
The Vienna Climate Team is back for round two! In 2022, the City of Vienna invited residents of 3 neighborhoods to share ideas and help develop the climate change strategy, which should help the Austrian capital reach its goal of CO2 neutrality in the next 20 years.
In the districts that were part of the project last year, over 1,100 ideas were submitted, from which 102 project outlines were developed with the residents. From these, community juries selected 19 projects to implement in the coming years.
Now, the City of Vienna is inviting all residents to share their ideas for projects in 3 different new neighborhoods. In just three weeks, 600 new ideas have been posted on the city’s engagement platform.
Get inspired by Vienna’s buzzing climate action engagement project
Elburg updates environmental vision (Netherlands)
Like all local governments in the Netherlands, the Municipality of Elburg needs to have a comprehensive strategic vision of the community’s future covering topics such as the environment, economy, and spatial planning by 2024. It’s required to involve the residents in this exercise.
The bustling Dutch town offers its residents two ways to participate: they can share ideas on a map and/or fill out a survey that helps the elected officials prioritize topics. With maps, residents could add multiple ideas within 5 minutes, and survey takers were only asked for 15 minutes of their time!
This is a great example of how you can combine multiple engagement methods and set up an inclusive consultation for maximal participation with CitizenLab!
Have a look at how Elburg is engaging its community
Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Presidency crowdsources ideas to help finetune data management strategy (Chile)
In today’s rapidly evolving digital society, a robust data management strategy is essential for ensuring security, fostering trust, and facilitating effective governance. With massive volumes of data being generated daily, it’s crucial for governments to have a strategic plan in place for managing this data, using it to craft evidence-based public policies, and designing higher-quality services for residents.
Recognizing this, the Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Presidency in Chile initiated an idea collection project to finetune the country’s data management strategy. Participants can read the draft strategy the government has developed and share feedback on the CitizenLab platform.
Malle lets residents decide about the purchase of a castle (Belgium)
Hidden amidst the scenic landscapes of various European countries, picturesque castles stand as silent witnesses to the passage of history.
To this day, they continue to captivate our imaginations and show their relevance, as they can bring communities together. In fact, the residents of Malle, Belgium, have found themselves in the midst of an extraordinary engagement project: they’ve been given the unique opportunity to collectively decide on the purchase of a local castle. This decision is not just about preserving history, it’s has a significant impact on the town’s budget.
The town organized an online referendum on the purchase, and in the blink of an eye, they passed the 1,300 participants mark. With this project, the number of registrations on the platform rose to just below 20% of the total population. Talking about a success!
