Leveraging smart city technologies for enhanced citizen engagement

In an ever-connected society, the link between public officials and their constituents continues to be an essential aspect behind a city’s success. To expand beyond the traditional means of civic engagement, such as in-person meetings, or social media interactions over Twitter or Facebook, city leaders are looking to seamlessly connect with their citizens through experiences that are just as intuitive and convenient as getting picked up with a ride-sharing app or as personalized as ordering online from a large e-commerce company.

Smart city technologies will play an important role to facilitate new forms of government-to-citizen interactions and ultimately strengthen the civic engagement between communities and their public institutions. The often overlooked lynchpin of any smart city technology is data.

Open the doors for data

Whether it is online government transactions or a smart city parking application, a city cannot get “smarter” without the data needed to make intelligent decisions. Data is an asset to any smart city, and open data policies fuel innovation. By opening up the data sets collected by government agencies, such as public records, city leaders can develop an open dialogue with their constituents.

With two-way communication, government staff can collect feedback about the data (whether it’s complete, accurate, easy to access), and ask for the public’s input about different data they would like to see. This open communication ensures that the voices of residents are thoughtfully considered and reflected in the way smart city solutions are created and implemented.

Inform future policy with data analytics

However, data is only valuable when you analyze it to extract insights. Data analytics is what empowers city leaders, citizens and communities to be able to make informed, data-driven decisions.

Mobile apps and other data sharing tools give citizens an opportunity to engage directly with government representatives in real-time and provide invaluable feedback. By analyzing this data from city residents, leaders can understand their citizen’s priorities and use it to inform future policy. It gives them the information they need to expand into new types of digital services, respond to new initiatives, and deliver relevant services to their community now and into the future.

Facilitate citizen participation

One example of a digital service that city leaders are adopting to facilitate greater civic engagement are smart kiosks. These self-service digital kiosks offer a new way to engage with the community and help to streamline many government services.

For instance, smart digital kiosks can handle a variety of transactions as well as disseminate large amounts of information, freeing up valuable time for both government staff and citizens alike. Kiosks can also be helpful, in terms of increasing engagement, as they can help extend government services throughout the community, including citizens living in remote locations or residents who speak a different language. They also provide a platform for city leaders to share advertising revenue with local businesses who are interested in furthering their reach within the community through digital ads in the kiosks.

Engage today and for tomorrow

Both city leaders and citizens are looking for smart city technology to enable their city to be productive, more efficient, offer a higher quality of life, and create new opportunities for a better future. Leveraging open data, data analytics, and new smart city technologies, such as self-service kiosks, city leaders can increase civic engagement to help shape and evolve their city for today and tomorrow.

To learn more about how smart cities strengthen ties between citizens and government, contact us here.