Initial discussion document for good practices in Citizen Engagement (*edited/selected slides*). Our objective: develop a successful framework for citizen engagement strategies for 3 lighthouse & 2 follower cities engaging in major renovation, energy efficiency and smart city works. www.remourban.eu

1. @Remourban_EUwww.remourban.eu
WP1 Sharing Session – CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT

2. REMOURBAN innovations catalogue
BIM for EE
districts
retrofitting
Passivhaus
for district
retrofitting
Heavily
insulation
solutions
DH
performance
optimisation
Low
temperature
DH solutions
Small local
consolidation
centre
Local
information
infrastructure
hub
Local
charging
optimisation
device
City
Integrated
Infrastructures
Energy map
in real time
Services for
the City
Information
Platform
Smart Grid
Control
Systems
Citizen
engagement
strategies
Barriers,
legal issues,
normative
Policy and
optimisation
regulatory
framework
Integrated
Urban Plans
Business
models and
financial
schemes
Innovative
PPP
solutions,
approaches
DECISIONS
TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS / SOLUTIONS FUNDS
INSIGHTS
EU
evaluation
framework

3. What is Citizen Engagement…?!?
• Good Communication ≠Citizen Engagement
• But citizen engagement NEEDS good communication
• “Ways in which citizens participate in the life of a community in
order to improve conditions for others or to help shape the
community’s future”
• “It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others
in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions
of representative democracy”
• “strategies to turn citizens from being passive persons into active
actors of the sustainable renovation of the city they live in “
• “citizens as actors of the regeneration model … involving them to
improve and customize it to their specific needs”
REMOURBAN DoA

4. What is Citizen Engagement…?!?
“processes by which public concerns, needs and values
are incorporated into decision-making”
Processes through which, citizens – at some stage of the process and
development – find themselves on equal footing as the person ‘in
power’.

5. D1.16. Report on innovative citizen
engagement strategies
1-way
'distance’ - by mail
Internet
2-way
In person, collective
meeting
Active and evolving dialogue
Equal power to decide
outcomes at one or many
parts of the process
A 3-STEP CATEGORIZATION
TO PROFILE, UNDERSTAND & TARGET
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT ACROSS THE PROJECT

6. Selected benefits of CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
Internal sales pitch for buy-in
“There are a number of important drivers for more citizen engagement: deficit reduction,
declining deference to authority, and lack of trust….
…We have found that complex problems can often be overcome in simple and cost-
effective ways by making the most of the local knowledge, relationships, energy and life
experience of ordinary people”
Royal Society Action and Research Center

7. Find your
INTERNAL
champions

8. Mind the GAP!
CONSUMER EXPERIENCE
Instant access
24/7
Digital
Mobile
Where you are…
(Highly) personalised
Quick delivery & returns
PUBLIC/CIVIC EXPERIENCE
Slow
Limited hours & accessibility
Few & physical locations
Paper-based
Travel-to
Never personal (or personalised)
No choices, no options
…
VS

9. Good to know!
Some universally applicable principals
• Involve all (as many) sections of the
community
• Work on location (be there!)
• Visualise (GIS/infographic/data mapping…)
• Communicate, starting well in advance
• Be prepared to invest & spend money
• Build local capacity & identify leaders
• Follow up & feed-back
• Mix methods & tools (online & offline)
• Guarantee local ownership of
(at least part of) the process

11. External Highlights
& Ideas
Know the terrain:
• Websites & Social media
• Fact sheets
• Reconnaissance trip
• Briefing workshops
• Print communications
• Models (3D/Scale)
• Face to face
• Suggestion boxes
• Public meetings
• Focus groups
• Survey
• Aggregate opinions: mine media, online
forums

12. External Highlights
& Ideas
Build trust & work/think together:
• Design workshop
• Brochure + questionnaire
• Gaming
• Social media
• Street stalls
• “Go to the audience” meet & greets
(schools, community centers…)
• “Pop-up” city halls
• Interactive displays
• Polling

13. External Highlights
& Ideas
Real power, real participation:
• Design workshops
• User groups
• “Community dividends” for successful
projects
• Targeted invitations to guarantee diversity
• Participatory budgeting
• Competitions with incentives and
recognition
• Hand over communications (Social media
takeovers, picture reports, etc..)
• Public data dashboards (open data)
• Citizen academies on specific
issues/developments
• Civic hacking/hackathons
#OURBUDGET

14. External Highlights
& Ideas
• Measuring direct and indirect
participation
• Size of participation
• Purpose of participation
• Goals/demographic or segment
• Participants (active & passive)
• Participant recruitment
• Participation mechanisms
• Data analysis & interpretation

15. Final thoughts
Segmentation
Find your
CITIZEN/CIVIC
champions
Understand
sources/people with
economic, political or
community exclusion

16. @Remourban_EUwww.remourban.eu
Thank you!