Experimenting with Public Engagement Platforms in Local Government

2020 ◽  
pp. 107808741989782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seongkyung Cho ◽  
Karen Mossberger ◽  
David Swindell ◽  
John David Selby

Cities are venues for experimentation with technology (e.g., smart cities) and democratic governance. At the intersection of both trends is the emergence of new online platforms for citizen engagement. There is little evidence to date on the extent to which these are being used or the characteristics associated with adopters at the leading edge. With rich data on civic engagement and innovation from a 2016 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) survey, we explore platform use in U.S. local governments and relationships with offline civic engagement, innovation, and local characteristics. We find that use of online participatory platforms is associated with offline participation, goals for civic engagement, and city size, rather than evidence that this is related to a more general orientation toward innovation.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Li Tian

Consider that 26.3 million people live in Shanghai and 20 million live in Beijing as of 2019. Now consider that these 46.3 million people live within an area of approximately 23,000 km². By comparison, Canada’s population in 2019 was 37.6 million and the area of Canada is approximately 10 million km². China is on the leading edge of smart-city projects because population density gives it little choice. China must take bold steps in terms of both technology and regulation to cope with the demands for social management, which these megacities create. Accordingly, about half of the Smart City Projects globally are in China.  Many smart cities pilot projects are underway across China addressing many infrastructures and other organizational concerns. One such organizational concern is coping with the solid waste generated in cities. China produces more than 300 million tons of solid waste per year, and much of it comes from its cities.   This research project explores China's food and beverage delivery online platforms and the waste they cause. In 2019, this industry has developed rapidly, generating economic activity valued at ¥ 653.6 billion that year ($CAD 121 billion). Out of a total population of 1.4 billion, 460 million people are currently consumers of these online platforms. Most of these consumers live in China’s megacities. This consumption is not projected to decrease post-pandemic. The problem is that solid waste from this industry in 2019 weighed approximately 2.7 million tons.   This paper analyzes reasons why the online food take-out industry has caused a plastic waste surge from the perspective of China's environmental legislation, law enforcement efficiency, and recycling subsidies. At the same time, through the case study of the German Packaging Law, this paper suggested on the management and recycling of Chinese take-out packaging were put forward.   The Chinese government has issued national standards for the design and construction of smart cities. This paper explores how to use legal governance and supervision in smart city design and operation to assist in implementing environmental regulations to control the take-out waste. The take-out waste problem does not only exist in China. Almost all major cities in the world are facing this problem. China's experiences may provide a new path for the city's solid waste disposal and other environmental issues and lead the cities to explore more environmental protection possibilities.


1985 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Robert H. Rittle

Some are born to computer literacy, while others have literacy thrust upon them! Students who comprise the next generation of political scientists and public administrators will, in many cases, fall into the latter category. This article concerns the role of university training programs in meeting the increasing demands for microcomputer skills.The January, 1984 issue of Public Administration Review included five articles concerning microcomputers in local government. These articles anticipate “major changes in the way local governments organize and the means by which they carry out operations,” as a result of microcomputer technology. Predicting a significant impact of microcomputers in local government, the International City Management Association has also published a major monograph on microcomputer use (Griesemer, 1984).


Author(s):  
Arindam Biswas ◽  
Kranti Kumar Maurya

Rapidly increasing urbanization in India has brought much needed focus on the urban development. City building in India is done mostly by local governments and very less by state government and union government. All three tiers of governance are involved in realizing smart city. Smart city will be built with a combined effort from various actors from three tiers of public governing institutions and several private enterprises. Smart cities will require superior planning, design, and coordination among these actors. Otherwise, it will be impossible to achieve faster, efficient, and superior quality city building and management. Historically, urban policy and its implementation in India has been tardy, thereby limiting the sustainable and planned growth of cities. The chapter will try to find the connection between governance and institutional framework for smart city building in India by taking a case of Varanasi city. Varanasi is a city in Uttar Pradesh state of India. It is one of the hundred proposed smart cities. Varanasi is a proposed city under AMRUT and HRIDAY schemes also.


2019 ◽  
pp. 607-623
Author(s):  
Sarah Hartmann ◽  
Agnes Mainka ◽  
Wolfgang G. Stock

The population in many cities all over the world is continuously growing and with this growing number of people infrastructural, health and location-related problems increase. It is assumed that these problems could be addressed by means of open government data which many governments publish on their web portals so that it can be further processed and transformed. Since the citizens themselves know best what they need, governments encourage them to participate in open data innovation competitions and to create value added services for their city. The reuse of open urban government data during hackathons or app competitions is a new trend in knowledge societies of how governments and citizens work together. But have these events still become practice in local governments and are they helpful means to foster government-to-citizen communication and collaboration? The authors analyze innovation competitions in 24 world cities to see how they are applied and whether they have the potential to make the city “smart”.


2022 ◽  
pp. 396-410
Author(s):  
Mariam Bhanu ◽  
V. K. Dhanyasree

Smart cities are modern concepts that aim to provide better living conditions to their citizens by creating a sustainable environment. Citizens are the key partners behind the development of a smart city. They have to be aware about the civic duties and responsibilities towards the community. In this chapter, the authors analyze the concept of smart cities and what are the issues and challenges in India for developing a smart city. The authors also examine various civic engagement initiatives by the government of India. The objective of this chapter is to find the role played by public libraries in creating smarter communities and how they will help in promoting civic engagement activities.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 70-85
Author(s):  
Indu Nair ◽  
Bardo Fraunholz ◽  
Chandana Unnithan

Web 2.0 tools, while mobilising citizens to make informed choices, may also manipulated public opinion. This hypothesis forms the central theme of this research investigation through the historiography lens. Based on concurrent research from decade, the authors take a closer look at citizen-to-citizen engagement, so as to trace the role of web 2.0 tools, in perhaps manipulating public opinion or enabling democratic governance through reversal of some existing defects in the Indian context. Specifically, they raise these questions: Has ICT enabled civic engagement manipulated public opinion in this developing democracy? Has it succeeded in reversing apparent defects in the electoral system, which is regarded pivotal in democracies? Focusing on the elections, the authors present a synopsis of the use of web 2.0 tools which were seemingly efficiently and prolifically used during the elections albeit to reach out to the large population base in this country.


Author(s):  
Muradiye Ates

By aiming at improving social welfare and well-being, social policies, social innovation, and smart territories are closely related to each other. Local authorities are in direct contact with citizens and regional needs, which makes them an important actor in overcoming challenges ranging from housing, spare-time activities to education to improving democratic standards. There are many successful examples of social innovations, including FixMyStreet.com, participatory budgeting, and Open Government Vienna, which are supported by local governments that can contribute to the formation of smart cities and territories. By elaborating related examples from various perspectives, this chapter highlights the relation between social policy, social innovation, and smart cities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xun Zheng ◽  
Tomio Miwa

Population decline is a pressing issue facing Japan and other developed countries. Local governments in Japan are seeking solutions to insure they meet the daily travel demands of the elderly. Although subsidy for local bus companies is a highly practical policy, a careful investigation to determine its reasonable level is required. This paper investigates the option price of local bus services, that is, the willingness of residents to pay to maintain the services and attempts to gain insights on a reasonable level of subsidy for local bus companies. A comparative analysis among age groups and different city size groups was made. The result showed that elderly residents show a higher option price value than younger and middle-age residents.


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