From the United Kingdom to Chile, cities and organizations around the world are building inspiring community engagement projects on our platform to connect with their residents in pursuit of building a better community. Learn from your global peers and explore their platforms below!
1. The Havant Borough Council is Building a Better Future with a new local plan (United Kingdom)
A local plan addresses the needs and opportunities for development in an area setting out how much, what type and where development will take place over at least a 15 year period. The Havant Borough Council in the United Kingdom is developing their next local plan and have turned to their community to help them build one that is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. With great use of our customizable platform features to easily guide users through the process and drive engagement, they are already seeing high levels of quality engagement on topics ranging from new construction sites to future housing infrastructure. Local Plans can be complex consultations with several statutory requirements, but Havant is making it easy for their residents to get engaged to build a better future. View the project.
2. CEPAL’s voting platform of the Escazu Agreement (Latin America and the Caribbean)
The Escazu Agreement is the first environmental treaty of Latin America and the Caribbean. To elect representatives for this agreement, CEPAL (the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) has developed a new election process on the CitizenLab platform. On our platform, voters are currently able to learn more about the agreement and learn about all the candidates for new representatives in order to encourage and facilitate public participation and to channel their contributions. Come November 2nd, the almost 2,000 registered users will cast their votes on the platform itself to elect their public representatives. View the platform.
3. Wasilkow’s first participatory budgeting project (Poland)
For the first time in Poland, the citizens of Wasilkow were able to submit their project ideas for a participatory budget allotment of 600,000 PLN. Divided between city-wide projects, village administration projects, and sustainability projects, Wasilkow is seeking to consult with their residents on how to make their community a better place to live. Almost 1,000 registered users put forth or voted on ideas, ranging from better street lighting to new city parks to a Wasilkow “Welcome Zone” to welcome and nurture both residents and visitors alike. As part of the “e-Democracy: the inhabitants have the power” initiative, the implementation of their platform has also allowed them to conduct elections for their Youth Council as well as facilitating community support to Ukrainian refugees. View the project.
4. Sport Vlaanderen is highlighting and nominating the great sports initiatives for the Flemish Sports Jewel (Belgium)
Across Flanders, there are many sports initiatives that get people active and bring their community together, ultimately strengthening the social fabric in the neighborhood. For the second time, the Flemish sports agency Sport Vlaanderen Flemish Minister of Sport, Ben Weyts, is looking to award the Flemish Sports Jewel to the best community sports initiative. They are using their online engagement platform so community members can propose their initiatives that ultimately a jury made up of local sports organizations will select from for the final award. With 3,600 participants and over 30 initiatives proposed, who will win the Flemish Sports Jewel? And with over 8,000 total participants, this platform is bringing people together from all sports organizations in order to discuss and create accessible sports initiatives across Flanders. View the platform.
5. Discovering the future of Downtown Struthers, together (United States)
Seeking to revitalize Struthers, Ohio by developing the city’s inaugural comprehensive plan, the city’s planning department launched their community engagement platform Discover Struthers to ensure the plan is inclusive and representative of their entire community. Through Discover Struthers, the government has been able to create an engaging and consistent process for community engagement with innovative hybrid engagement methods that make it easy to gather and analyze a variety of perspectives, including everyone from the young to the elderly. With over 500 registered users on the platform, Struthers has been able to engage with a wide range of their population, and are proud of the level of engagement and dedication that their residents have shown towards improving their community. View their platform or read their in-depth case study.
6. Giving Leiden’s community sports center a new name (Netherlands)
The planned indoor sports center in Leiden, Netherlands will be a sports complex open to all. As a welcoming and inclusive community, the municipality wants to make sure that it is given a name that resonates with the community, as a tribute to Leiden. In order to reach their residents, they launched a project on their public participation platform to gather naming proposals and feedback, as well as provide construction updates to the community. Over 500 participants have provided input on the name for this sports complex, signaling that the community is excited about this new development. With over three years worth of projects and over 7500 total registered users, Leiden’s public participation platform has shown great success in public engagement across all topics to create a more participatory and inclusive community. View the project and platform.
