Across much of the western world, there is widespread disillusionment with existing political institutions. Membership of traditional political parties is falling, turnout in elections is consistently lower than it was two decades ago, and people appear to have little trust in their elected representatives.
At the same time, digital tools and technologies have transformed the way we live and work. Could they transform our politics too? Recent advances in digital technologies have made it possible to connect with a much larger group of citizens to widen the pool of knowledge and expertise to solve complex problems.
These technologies can help parliaments, city governments and political parties to engage citizens in new ways – from crowdsourcing and collaborative policymaking to large scale deliberative exercises – which engage people’s insights, experiences and desires.
In the United Kingdom, we’re now facing an historic opportunity to renew and reinvigorate our democratic institutions, whilst devolution could also spur councils to engage with citizens in new ways, enabling them to influence and shape local decisions. Globally, technology is playing an increasingly important role in how local governments and councils conduct its work.
By both listening closely and actively involving residents in identifying local issues, designing solutions and prioritising areas for action, local authorities can build new, more collaborative relationships, while also improving the quality and legitimacy of decision-making.
Efforts to digitally crowdsource ideas, for example, is one way in which city and local governments can identify the issues which matter to residents, develop solutions and determine priorities. Cities as diverse as Reykjavik, Madrid and Seoul have already created digital platforms to allow citizens to make proposals, comment on and debate the ideas of others, and vote to identify the most popular to be taken forward. From repurposing disused power stations as youth centres, to requesting more shelters for the homeless or new public stairwells, Reykjavik Council have implemented over 200 crowdsourced ideas since 2010. The aggregate of a number of seemingly small local decisions leads to communities that have greater involvement and ownership over decisions that matter to them.
Online participatory budgeting exercises, where residents have a say in how a proportion of budgets are spent, are also growing in popularity. The world’s largest is already underway in Paris - in 2016 residents were given control of €100 million euros of public expenditure and as a result hundreds of projects have been funded from green corridors and vertical gardens, to the refurbishment of sports and cultural facilities.
Here in the UK, Scotland is leading the way with the Scottish Government supporting the trial and evaluation of over 50 participatory budgeting activities (both offline and online). This is something that could be emulated across the UK.
It’s important to also note that embracing open data and other tools for transparency builds trust between local governments and citizens - not only do they help in giving citizens the information they need to help them come up with new solutions to problems, but they also open up activities to greater public scrutiny.
Data Mill North, which was originally started by Leeds City Council, is a leading UK example of how open data from multiple sources and from across multiple sectors can be brought together to help create change in local communities. Data published on the site has been used for everything from improving understanding of local flood risks, to analysis of road traffic accidents to make recommendations to the City Council about 20mph speed limit zones, to making information about empty homes or sports provision more accessible to the general public.
In short, digital technologies have made it possible to connect with a much larger group of citizens to widen the pool of knowledge and expertise to solve complex problems. The opportunities available to local government professionals across the country are many and the possibilities are very exciting. However, for such initiatives to take off, we need to ensure the public is informed and engaged throughout the process - to do this, we need constructive debate about government innovation, to learn from others around the world and to foster a culture of openness and experimentation amongst the decision-makers in local councils and government bodies around the country.
Victoria Boelman is principal researcher and Theo Bass is research assistant in government innovation at Nesta.
On Monday December 5th, innovation foundation Nesta will hold an event to explore how digital tools can help local government decision-makers to interact with communities and better involve people in local policymaking. If you are interested in attending you can register here.
Date/Time: Monday 5th December 2016, 12-2.30pm (Lunch will be provided from 12pm) Venue: Broadway House Conference Centre, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NQ
Speaking at the event will be: • Audrey Tang, Digital Minister for Taiwan • Cristiano Ferri, Director of the Hacker Lab in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies • Thibaut Dernoncourt, Parlements et Citoyens/ Cap Collectif, France • Gunnar Grimsson,Citizens Foundation, Iceland • Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive, Nesta
