Digital Technologies for Community Engagement in Decision-Making and Planning Process

The way that we describe and understand cities is radically transforming—just like the tools we use for designing and implementing them. The change is often seen only as a technological aspect, for example, in the concept of smart cities. Smart cities are believed to provide societies with a higher quality of life thanks to modern technologies. However, there is also a human factor that is needed to make these changes go smoothly: acceptance. For many, change and innovation cause fear and disrupt everyday habits. Public participation is crucial both for understanding citizens’ needs and for adopting new programs. The ability to try, engage, or entertain with new technologies will move innovation from the abstract level to the level of understanding. A smart city can be a living laboratory that tests new technologies and services where citizens and urban communities are active actors in the process. Innovation can be used by the city to improve its services, mutual communication, and engage citizens in its activities and projects, co-creating urban space and city strategy through new participatory tools. Trends in European cities show that the use of modern digital technologies and interactive tools can be used to involve citizens in urban decision-making processes, e.g., when creating or revitalizing public spaces. Modern participatory technologies that enable citizens to explore, analyze, design, and evaluate spatial information on the basis of shared and open data that bring new challenges and new opportunities to cities, as well as for citizens. Our knowledge of the use of these new technologies, however, is still narrow and limited today. In the following research, the authors intend to explore the potential of digital technologies for community engagement in the decision-making process in smart cities by examining the specific settings upon which social innovation builds. We discuss the potential of digital participation for community development and propose good-practice examples for facilitating the process of adopting and integrating digital technologies within such settings. Rather than conclusions, some final reflections are proposed, based on how digital technologies can play a crucial role in involving new groups of people, empowering citizens and building new relationships at the local level.