scholarly journals Citizen Participation and Machine Learning for a Better Democracy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Procter ◽  
Miguel Arana-Catania ◽  
Felix-Anselm van Lier ◽  
Nataliya Tkachenko ◽  
Yulan He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
City Council ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Democratic Systems ◽  
The City

The development of democratic systems is a crucial task as confirmed by its selection as one of the Millennium Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. In this article, we report on the progress of a project that aims to address barriers, one of which is information overload, to achieving effective direct citizen participation in democratic decision-making processes. The main objectives are to explore if the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning can improve citizens? experience of digital citizen participation platforms. Taking as a case study the ?Decide Madrid? Consul platform, which enables citizens to post proposals for policies they would like to see adopted by the city council, we used NLP and machine learning to provide new ways to (a) suggest to citizens proposals they might wish to support; (b) group citizens by interests so that they can more easily interact with each other; (c) summarise comments posted in response to proposals; (d) assist citizens in aggregating and developing proposals. Evaluation of the results confirms that NLP and machine learning have a role to play in addressing some of the barriers users of platforms such as Consul currently experience.

scholarly journals Urban sprawl and citizen participation. A case study in the municipality of La Pobla de Vallbona (Valencia)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Gielen ◽  
Yaiza Pérez Alonso ◽  
José Sergio Palencia Jiménez ◽  
Asenet Sosa Espinosa
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Urban Sprawl ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
City Council ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
High Dispersion ◽  
Good Government ◽  
The City

The accelerated urban growth of the last decades in Europe has caused, especially in the Spanish Mediterranean coast, a paradigm shift in much cities, moving from a mostly compact urban form to a more diffuse one. The concept of city has changed so much that even in a lot of dispersed municipalities, it becomes difficult to define its limits. This change implies not only ecological and economic impacts, but also, social effects. Urban sprawl makes difficult social interaction and reduces the community feeling, and therefore, social cohesion and identity. This produces also changes in the relations of citizens between them and with the city council. The research propounds a discussion about the challenges that the urban sprawl causes for the application of participative models in the decision making, understanding them as basic criterion of good government. We analyze a case study to extract the complexity of articulating processes of citizen participation in territory with high dispersion based on a project carried out in the municipality of La Pobla de Vallbona (Valencia) on participatory budgets. It analyzes the results of the process carried out in relation to the urban model, the morphology of their urban pieces and spatial structure, and the demographic and social characteristics of the municipality. The question is identifying the problematic for the articulation of participative processes in territories with this idiosyncrasy. Finally, the article suggests a series of strategic lines as starting points to achieve participatory processes in the city characterized by urban sprawl.

scholarly journals Public Reveal: Finding a place for Civic Architecture in the Contemporary City.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amber Venter
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
City Council ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Civic Architecture ◽  
Design Case ◽  
Design Case Study ◽  
Design Proposal ◽  
The City

<p><b>This research is an architectural enquiry into how the visibility of local government can mimic the performance of everyday political life. Using the conceptual framework of place and understanding of the collective community. The intention of this design proposal is to encourage the transparency of local authority through an architectural intervention in the city.</b></p> <p>The driver of this research is the reduced physical presence of civic practices, with particular regard to the congregating place of local government. A framework is developed as a precursor to develop an understanding of the traditional civic architype. The aim is to reimagine a contemporary civic architecture which is detached from the corporate functions of local government. Architecture supports the celebration of collective rituals of movement and meeting.</p> <p>An archetype investigation formalises a set design criteria by which the design case study is evaluated against. The background research comprises a critique of the spatial arrangement of the traditional town hall. An additional background task is consisted of a comparative inquiry into today’s local government accommodation.</p> <p>The site is located in Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland City. The site analysis criteria utilised by this thesis is grounded in the research of Jan Gehl and his understanding of architectures impact on peoples’ behaviour in cities.</p> <p>Finally the design case study is driven by dynamic circulation, which establishes a celebration of the formal and informal interactions between the participants of local government. Transparency and hierarchy are used to challenge the spatial and functional qualities of Auckland City Council. The result of the research will contribute to the inclusive understanding of the ordinary rituals of local government through architecture in the city.</p>

scholarly journals Pasteloza – refurbishing of the PPR heritage

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-64
Author(s):  
Sara Nikolić
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Thermal Insulation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Geometric Figures ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Housing Estates

Abstract Colourful zigzags, arcade game motifs, geometric figures, pseudo-frames of windows and even infantile drawings of flora and fauna – those are just some of the visible symptoms of the aesthetical and urbanistic chaotic condition also known as Polish pasteloza. One of the most common readings is that the excuse of thermal insulation is being (ab)used in order to radically erase the urbanistic, cultural and political heritage of Polish People’s Republic (PPR) from the city landscape. On the other hand, inhabitants of ‘pastelized’ housing estates claim to be satisfied not only with the insulation but also with their role in decision-making processes. A sense of alienation from one’s home seems to have gone away, together with the centralized state administration, and it is being replaced by citizen participation. The possibility of vindication of pasteloza’s ‘crimes against aesthetics’ will be deliberated in this paper – in order to pave a path for more complex understanding of this phenomenon that could offer a solution for achieving a compromise between aesthetics and civic participation in post-transition processes.

Implementation of Social Media Concepts for E-Government

2019 ◽  
pp. 1071-1091
Author(s):  
Raimundo Díaz-Díaz ◽  
Daniel Pérez-González
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
City Council ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Public ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
The Government ◽  
Technological Platform

Some governments have proven social media's potential to generate value through co-creation and citizen participation, and municipalities are increasingly using these tools in order to become smart cities. Nevertheless, few public administrations have taken full advantage of all the possibilities offered by social media and, as a consequence, there is a shortage of case studies published on this topic. By analyzing the case study of the platform Santander City Brain, managed by the City Council of Santander (Spain), the current work contributes to broaden the knowledge on ambitious social media projects implemented by local public administrations for e-Government; therefore, this case can be useful for other public sector's initiatives. The case studied herein proves that virtual social media are effective tools for civil society, as it is able to set the political agenda and influence the framing of political discourse; however, they should not be considered as the main channel for citizen participation. Among the results obtained, the authors have found that several elements are required: the determination and involvement of the government, a designated community manager to follow up with the community of users, the secured privacy of its users, and a technological platform that is easy to use. Additionally, the Public Private Partnership model provides several advantages to the project, such as opening new sources of funding.

scholarly journals The Citizens’ Views on Adaptation to Bioclimatic Housing Design: Case Study from Greece

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 4984
Author(s):  
Veronika Andrea ◽  
Stilianos Tampakis ◽  
Paraskevi Karanikola ◽  
Maria Georgopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Housing Design ◽  
Residential Sector ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Design Case Study ◽  
Log Linear ◽  
The City

Bioclimatic housing design is regarded as an important pillar towards energy policies. Additionally, it is closely affiliated with the performance of energy efficiency of buildings. The citizens’ views and their adaptation to energy saving practices can be utilized as an important data base in order to design, improve and properly manage urbanization and environmental challenges in the residential sector. For the capitalization of the citizens’ views in Orestiada, the newest city in Greece, simple random sampling was applied on data that were collected via personal interviews and with the use of a structured questionnaire. Reliability and factor analyses were applied for the data processing along with hierarchical log-linear analysis. The latter was utilized for the statistical clustering of citizens into given distinct groups—clusters, arising by factor analysis. The main findings revealed that the citizens are merely aware of bioclimatic principles, while only a small percentage of 28.8% adopts some primary bioclimatic disciplines. Conclusively, it should be noted that there is a need for effective planning towards empowerment on energy efficiency in the residential sector of the city. Notwithstanding, it should not be disregarded the need for the incorporation of conceptual frameworks in urban planning. This is an approach that prerequisites public awareness and the stakeholders’ participation in decision making processes.

Dual Legitimacy in the Development of the Network City - A Case Study of Kaohsiung City Council

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da-Chi Liao ◽  
Hsin-Che Wu ◽  
Chen-Hsun Li
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
City Council ◽  
Dual Systems ◽  
City Network ◽  
The City ◽  
Kaohsiung City

This paper discusses the theoretical rheology of local governance from the bureaucratic system to the network city and explores whether and how such a city network can be developed in a dual local government system. This paper suggests that, in dual systems, councilors are nodes which extend their networks, and councilors together can construct a more comprehensive network than a city executive branch alone does, so as to remedy the executive branch’s deficiencies concerning city affairs. This paper chooses Kaohsiung city council as its case study and provides evidence that the network developed by city council and councilors covers many city affairs which are ignored by the city executive branch. This result also implies that the network city may be better feasible in a dual local government system than in a unitary one.

scholarly journals Paradigm or paradox? The ‘cumbersome impasse’ of the participatory turn in Brazilian urban planning

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Friendly ◽  
Kristine Stiphany
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Right To The City ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Collective Development ◽  
The City

The Brazilian urban reform movement expanded citizen participation in decision-making processes through a policy environment motivated by a right to the city (RTC), a collective development strategy for political transformation. Yet recent events evidence that social exclusion and spatial segregation remain dominant features of the Brazilian city. These contradictions have led planning scholars and practitioners to grapple with misalignment between the reform movement’s paradigmatic goals and its paradoxical failures. We build upon this genre of thinking to assess critical areas of paradigm and paradox in Brazilian planning – insurgent urbanism, informality and knowledge – each of which is rooted in the lesser-understood concept of autogestão for improving the equity of land division through urban planning.1 Although not all inclusive of the issues faced by Brazilian cities, these three categories were selected for best representing how Brazil’s participatory turn established a range of paradigmatic and paradoxical conditions that can help us to understand cities in Brazil and beyond and might better leverage autogestão in the future.

Urban virtues and the innovative city: An experiment in placing innovation in Edmonton, Canada

Urban Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 705-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Edson Jones ◽  
Michael Granzow ◽  
Rob Shields
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Collaborative Research ◽  
Innovation Strategy ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Local Identities ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The City

In the highly competitive landscape of global cities and entrepreneurial urbanism, the development goals of cities are increasingly framed through discourses of ‘innovation’. In this paper we critically examine this relationship through a case study exploring the attempt to build a nanotechnology sector in Edmonton, Alberta. Adopting a collaborative research methodology involving citizen engagement and urban touring, we explore participant representations of Edmonton as an ‘innovative city’. The conversations we had with participants follow some common themes within an emerging literature on innovation geographies, for instance as related to network collaborations and quality of life. However, participants furthermore articulated innovation pathways which were more closely linked to local identities and values within the city, including negative place narratives. We argue that paying attention to these ‘virtues of place’ can assist cities to counteract trends towards the homogenisation of urban innovation strategy, and affix the ‘innovative city’ to more socially robust articulations of the future prosperity and the possibility of place.

scholarly journals Prioritisation and Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Challenges and Opportunities for Bulawayo

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Vinnet Ndlovu ◽  
Peter Newman ◽  
Mthokozisi Sidambe
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Coming Out ◽  
Distribution Systems ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The City ◽  
Insight Into

Cities are engines of socio-economic development. This article examines and provides insight into the extent of localisation of the UN&rsquo;s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using the City of Bulawayo (CoB), in Zimbabwe, as the case study. The key question posited is &lsquo;Does Bulawayo demonstrate potential for sustainable development?&rsquo;. Bulawayo is a strange case study as in the period of the Millennium Development Goals Zimbabwe had a massive increase in death rates from 2000 to 2010 due to the HIV pandemic, political chaos and economic disintegration of that period. Coming out of that period there was little to help cities like Bulawayo grasp the opportunity for an SDG-based development focus. However, after the paper creates a multi-criteria framework from a Systematic Literature Review on the localisation of the SDG agenda, the application to Bulawayo now generates hope. The city is emerging from the collapse of the city&rsquo;s public transport and water distribution systems, once the envy of and benchmark for many local authorities in the country, and has detailed SDG plans for the future. Bulawayo now serves as a planning model for localisation of sustainable development goals.

scholarly journals Geografia sociale e partecipazione. L’esperienza di #esserefiera

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Picone
Keyword(s):  
Social Geography ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Third Mission ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The City ◽  
Theoretical Dimension

Social geography cannot be confined to a theoretical dimension, however necessary: it is expected to play an active role, to encourage encounters with social actors and stakeholders, to take on a dimension of public engagement. Even in Italy this dimension is increasingly important, as universities are placing a growing value on their so-called third mission. Social geography must then address the fundamental issue of participation and its techniques. In doing so, those who graduate in geography will also be able to claim an essential role in the management of decision-making processes and participatory planning. This paper explores some methods and approaches that younger geographers can use to build the ‘toolbox’ of their future profession, looking at a case study from the city of Palermo.

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