The world has seen rapid change in the past century and as we move forward, society must address the challenges we currently face and actively plan for the future. With the majority of humanity residing in urban areas, cities play a large role in shaping the change we want and need. Civic Participation has always played a large role in urban space and governance. Over the past 10 years governments and professionals have been searching for new ways to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration and civic engagement. These efforts have led to a number of initiatives around the world a few which are discussed here;
image source: urbanista.de
Founded in Hamburg by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development in 2009. The Next Network is lead by Co-founder Julian Petrin (Partner in German, Urban Planning Practice, Urbanista).
This “Citizens Future Laboratory” collected the best ideas and innovations from citizens and aimed to use them in solving future issues in the city.
After 10 years of compiling citizen ideas nexthamburg has moved on to it’s next phase; pin pointing urban issues based on findings from local documents, and organizing the assorted ideas into collections addressing the topic. These collections will be used to engage the public in creating scenarios for the future.
This Approach has spread to other cities in the world including Zurich, Bangalore, Istanbul and Lisbon
image source: impacthub.net/locations
Impact Hub was the brainchild of a group of students from the UK. The initial space opened in London in 2005 as collaborative meeting & work space. Since then Impact Hub has grown into a global community with locations all over the world.
Hubs act as collaborative meeting places for community and business innovation as well as providing events and resources for members. Along with Learning Sessions, Workshops and Design Charettes Most Hubs host an Impact Academy and have an expert in residence to aid in innovation.
image source: engagenovascotia.ca/milestones
Engage Nova Scotia is provincially supported organization working in “collaboration with partners from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, academia and communities.” Engage seeks to address Public Engagement & Trust, and Quality of Life in Nova Scotia by providing an neutral space for inclusive, diverse, conversation in communities.
The Engage method begins with working with municipalities to deliver engagement training to city officials and staff. Once a solid foundation has been built municipalities are able to co-lead workshops with Engage on citizen involvement and planning.
This initiative has resulted in a number of collaborative workshops and public engagements as well as a conference, bringing Engage stewards together to discuss future opportunities and challenges
Many of the provinces municipalities have collaborated with Engage on community visioning projects and the movement has lead to Antigonish and Inverness adopting the Engage initiative for use in their cities.
image source: engage.calgary.ca/about
Calgary is not lacking in its own participatory efforts. Along with Plan it Calgary, the City’s 2007 vision process for long-term sustainable growth, Calgarians have contributed to a number of local initiatives. Many can be viewed through the Engage website, which includes civic participation focused on projects like public realm and area redevelopment plans. The City also supports a number of organizations such as Vivacity, a course-based offshoot of Vancouvers City Studio approach.
Calgary can look to these initiatives as inspiration for it’s own collaborative movement.
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