Issues integrating urban data and citizen participation

Abstract

The smart city concept goes beyond expanding technology, including sustainability and citizen well-being. The growth of available datasets provides rich material for public management. However, the potential of this information is underused due to its breadth and complexity. One key challenge is associating it with qualitative research. To address this challenge, within the scope of a PhD research, a set of interviews were carried out with professionals working in the area of smart city and public development in three European cities. The aim was to identify issues and solutions in projects with urban data and citizen participation and better grasp their approaches. Some of the converging aspects highlighted pointed to the difficulty in engaging citizens in participatory processes, which requires different communication for diverse audiences. On the uncovered assets, lessons learned from adaptation to online workshops after the pandemic were also relevant to these processes. The overall insights gathered in this initial phase will guide the designing and testing of novel processes using emerging technologies in the future iterations of this research.