Empowering community volunteers through matchmaking services

Conference paper (2018)

Authors

G. Slingerland System Engineering - TPM
I. Mulder Design Conceptualization and Communication - IDE
T.J. Jaśkiewicz Design Conceptualization and Communication - IDE
Research Group
System Engineering (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2018 G. Slingerland, I. Mulder, T.J. Jaśkiewicz
Community engagement Service design Citizen participation Social cohesion Public parks
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Multi Actor Systems

Research Group

System Engineering

Abstract

In Rotterdam, the participatory turn has spurred various bottom-up communities around public parks. These communities aim to take care of the parks in their neighbourhood and search for ways to demonstrate the societal value of their initiative. The current work explores how digital matchmaking services can strengthen community relationships. A research-through-design approach is applied to identify the main barriers hindering community participation. The final design Park Makers uses both Citizen-to-Activity matching and Citizen-to-Citizen matching as ways to engage citizens in the community. The corresponding research demonstrates that connecting park users (or better: future volunteers) with another citizen or activity matching their personal interest fosters community engagement. From this point of view, it might be interesting to focus further research on the potential value of other matchmaking principles, or even other services, for bottom-up citizen communities.

Files

Ecp18150080.pdf
(.pdf | 0.681 Mb)