Involvement of citizens in the decision-making process

Citizen participation is an important part of urban development and citizens’ opinions can help the development of a city. Unfortunately, active participation in the decision-making process has decreased drastically. If before, institutions interacted with citizens through various meetings, now modern governments no longer interact with citizens as it used to happen.

To this end, it is necessary for the city administration to adopt a new approach to promote citizen participation. This relationship between the public and local government gives citizens the opportunity to actively participate in the decision-making process related to the difficulties they face.

Active civic engagement is an essential part of developing successful smart cities, enabling municipalities to respond to challenges and implement projects in the public interest.

There are many barriers and gaps that prevent citizens from being more active in decision-making processes and initiatives that involve them. Normally, the process of community interaction takes place at town halls, where citizens attend events alongside local officials.

Unfortunately, this approach to civic engagement is outdated, impractical, and inaccessible to many community members because, by their very nature, they cannot be programmed to benefit every member of the urban population.

Some citizens are reluctant to get involved in issues due to lack of attention to public affairs. It was noted that some members of the local community felt they did not know enough about certain issues to speak out effectively and this poses an even greater threat to citizen engagement as misinformation and fake news become part of mainstream news feeds.

Today, many governments are implementing new and exciting ideas in an attempt to inspire citizen engagement and overcome barriers to their participation.

An example would be the city hall of San Francisco, which initiated a program called Civic Bridge, a system through which they can ask for the help and involvement of citizens, benefiting from their experience and expertise in all community challenges.

Another example of a platform is Civy, designed to receive citizens’ opinions and concerns related to implemented or ongoing projects in a discreet way.

The authorities have tried over time to give an impetus to the inhabitants with the aim of receiving feedback and stimulating them to actively participate with concrete solutions. The development of a city depends on the success of this collaboration, interaction, which can only bring benefits, transforming it into a harmonious, intelligent and populated city.