Participatory methods

SHOWCASE On-line Public Engagement

TITLE: ON-LINE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN RIJEKA

1. SHORT DESCRIPTION of the PILOT PROBLEM/CHALLENGE

The Central part of Rijeka pilot is the establishment of the Citizen Collaboration Platform (CCP), an online tool which will allow interaction with citizens, primarily on gathering the ideas and proposals for the use of City-owned infrastructure objects, real-estates and other public spaces, many of which refurbished and seeking for a new content and features. The intention is to overcome the boundaries between local authorities and the citizens, exploring the simplest and most efficient way to find out their needs and interests, and to make the changes they’re demanding.

CCP pilot will be tested among citizens with 3 already existing  participatory programs:

  • Small municipal interventions – where citizen can submit their requests for municipal work on certain areas of the city and give their proposal in online form.
  • Local partnership - direct participation of associations, volunteers and local boards enables the citizens to resolve their problems regarding public spaces faster and more cost-efficient.
  • Open proposals – the citizens will be allowed to submit their proposals regarding the city-owned spaces with no time limit, in opposite to first 2 options which are limited by Call duration.

By the implementation of this new participatory tool, City-owned (unused) spaces may obtain a new purpose and embrace the programs aligned with the citizens’ needs. Finally, the CCP is a part of Rijeka Smart City policies and will be extended with new participatory features in the near future.


2. STARTING INTERACTION AND ICT TOOLS USED

The very first version of the CCP was presented at the 3 workshops, including the world café method, to the 3 different target groups. The purpose of this interactive workshops was to collect citizens’ ideas and purposes on the features and functionalities which should be embedded into CCP. The 4th workshop hosted the participants from the technological sector, and the aim of the discussion was to find out how new technologies can help improve the services of citizens, especially with the AI, VR, AR implementations.

The 2nd participatory method – online citizens’ engagement, is about to start in February 2019. It will be oriented to the reach of wider, non-specific, audience with an aim to collect suggestions and ideas on CCP improvement. The activity will be announced at the following social media and sharing platforms:

  • The official website of the City of Rijeka
  • The multimedia portal of the City of Rijeka ‘Moja Rijeka’
  • The official Facebook page of the City of Rijeka
  • The official Facebook page of ‘Moja Rijeka’
  • The official Facebook page of Startup incubator Rijeka
  • The official Twitter account of the City of Rijeka
  • If possible: Other sharing platforms of associated institutions/stakeholders involved in the CCP development process.

3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PARTICIPATORY METHOD

For the online citizens’ engagement the existing official tool eConsultations (eKonzultacije) will be used in order to reach the widest and diverse range of end-users. In the introduction part the explanation of the pilot project will be provided: what is the purpose of the citizen collaboration platform, the features and the functionalities. Also, the feedback that we want to collect will be precisely defined: efficiency, usefulness, user interface, complexity, and general user experience. The respondents will be asked to provide their proposals on the name of the tool, new features, improvements, visualizations of data collected etc. The period in which the proposals and ideas will be collected is limited on app. 7-14 days. After the participation period, the collected citizens’ opinions will be analysed, evaluated and implemented if possible.



4. PILOT PROJECT OUTCOMES/RESULTS

The expectations are to reach different target groups and to collect various set of opinions. It is possible to receive proposals which are not collided, or which are mutually exclusive. This will be resolved by analyzing the benefits (or non-benefits) of undertaking proposed intervention. The aim is to make CCP in its final version tailored upon citizens’ needs and ideas, in the maximum extent possible.