Revitalizing the post-war neighborhood: Towards inclusive and strategic new perspectives for Schiedam Nieuwland

The neighborhood of Nieuwland, located in Schiedam, Zuid-Holland is one example of the many post-war neighborhoods the Netherlands offers. It formed the extension of Schiedam’s city center and consisted of a clear functionalist lay-out upon its completion in 1965, characterized by monotony, frugal architecture, and a clear separation of...

Demystifying the Innovative Character of the Marineterrein: A Communication Interface to Strengthen the Relationship Between Innovators and Citizens

For decades, the Marineterrein used to be a military base that was closed off from the rest of the city. Due to budget cuts, the Ministry of Defence decided to gradually leave the Marineterrein in 2011 and return the territory to the city of Amsterdam. The Marineterrein has been undergoing area development since 2013, gradually opening to the...

Investigating whether the engagement of citizens in energy communities could lead to a rise in energy justice

Energy Communities are initiatives ran by members of the same or different communities with the aim of producing, distributing and consuming cleaner energy. The potential of these initiatives, as identified from this clean energy production, to play a key role in the energy transition is assumed to be vital as recognized by the European...

Urban Voices: Citizen Voice: An innovative Open-source Map-based tool for effective public participation

Cities around the world constitute complex systems, as sets of sub-components that are connected and interact with each other. Due to this inherent complexity, there are numerous emerging challenges that need to be tackled. In those complex environments, various-interest groups collaborate and compete to achieve their goals and interests,...

Urban Paraphrasis: Imagining urban transformation in Maastricht through localized material reuse and citizen empowerment

Urban Paraphrasis imagines urban transformation through the potential of localized material re-use and the capacities of citizen empowerment in the context of Maastricht’s Sphinxkwartier. The project presents an alternative civic center that is built with reclaimed materials from an abandoned clay factory, engages a local community of squatters,...

In search of Inclusive Participatory City-Making

Participatory methods have been widely explored in the public sector to democratize city-making projects and foster civic engagement. Although well-intentioned, participatory processes still too often exclude citizens. The current study looks for elements enabling city makers to articulate an inclusive Participatory City Making process. Starting...

Re-thinking the Role of Citizens in Evaluating Quality of Life in the Smart City

Cities around the world are struggling to cope with global challenges such as climate change, resource constraints, overpopulation, energy, and infrastructure management. To this effect, the “Smart City” concept over the last 20 years has promised to be the gateway to sustainable development and improved quality of life in cities through the use...

Citizen Engagement With Open Government Data: A Systematic Literature Review of Drivers and Inhibitors

Citizen engagement with open government data (OGD) can enhance the effectiveness of governments and improve not only the quality of public policy making but also public services provisioning and ability to address societal problems. Although previous research gives insight into citizen’s drivers and inhibitors for engaging with OGD, they have...

Beyond Information-Sharing. A Typology Of Government Challenges And Requirements For Two-Way Social Media Communication With Citizens

Despite great advances in ICT, social media, participatory platforms and mobile apps, we seem to still be locked in the one‑way communication “paradigm” where information flows unilaterally from government to citizens and seldom vice‑versa. As a result, citizens are more receivers rather than conscious producers of information, data, ideas,...

Citizen engagement in an open election data initiative: A case study of Indonesian's "Kawal Pemilu"

Citizen engagement is key to the successful and sustainable use of Open Government Data (OGD), involving multiple activities ranging from the retrieval and conversion of raw data to OGD based applications, to the use of these applications to solve societal problems. However, there is a lack of insight into what drives citizens to engage in OGD...

Digital Participatory Platforms for Co-Production in Urban Development: A Systematic Review

A renewed interest has appeared in citizen co-production of public services due to financial pressure on governments. While social media are considered an important facilitator, many digital participatory platforms (DPPs) have been developed to facilitate co-production between citizens and governments<br/>in the context of urban development....

Understanding the societal, entrepreneurship and economic aspects of developing a Circular Economy in cities: a case study of Coventry in the UK

One of the points of agreement emerging from international environmental policy debates is that people’s choices, behaviors and lifestyles will play a vital role in achieving sustainable development (Biwei, 2012; Fleischmann, 2016). There is strong evidence of the importance of a working Circular Economy (CE) to address sustainability challenges...