The smarticipate project has launched its new website, providing the latest news, information and resources stemming from the EU-funded project in one online space. Smarticipate aims to bring the public into the urban planning process, giving citizens access to data about their city and enabling them to better support the decision-making process.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (United Kingdom), the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Germany), and Rome (Italy) are taking part in the project, trialling a new way to make residents and local governments partners in urban development.
Hamburg intends to gather citizen input on topics such as the most popular locations for new playgrounds, as well as the most desirable positions for the planting of new trees in public zones.
London aims to allow people to choose for themselves how the local government makes improvements to their area, particularly in terms of allocating certain budgets.
Rome is expanding participatory processes for urban regeneration, such as involving citizens in proposing new uses for abandoned buildings.
To get a better idea of the work of smarticipate in each of the cities, check out the Urban Stories.
Through smarticipate, the choices made by local governments become more transparent, democratic and inclusive. If successful in these three cities, the project platform will be made available across Europe.
The project is funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020. It is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institut for Computer Graphics Research IGD and supported by the University of the West of England, the Austrian Institute of Technology, GeoVille Informationssysteme und Datenverarbeitung, ICLEI European Secretariat, wetransform GmbH, and We Love the City.