Citizen Participation: Case Study on Participatory Apps in Germany

Participatory smartphone apps empower citizens to interact with the city's administration. The purpose of this case study is to investigate the current state of participatory apps in Germany. The 29 apps that have been found can be categorized into four topics: Information Awareness, City Service, Transparency and Public Safety. Most citizen apps can be assigned to the category Travel & Local. None of the identified apps is based on open-source code, and the citizens' reports are not publicly visible, e.g., for other citizens. It is unclear to whom the data generated by citizens belong.