Public engagement is a pressing issue for cities everywhere. Governments have long consulted and involved citizens in various ways, but engagement has acquired greater urgency because of the rise of social media, smartphone apps, and other information technologies. These allow an unprecedented range of people to share information and collaborate to effect change in the real world. Citizens are now more aware, vocal and demanding, but many also want to contribute to making their homes more liveable and sustainable.
For those of us in the business of making cities better, these are opportunities to do more, and do better, with less. Crowdsourcing, open data and hackathons are among the many exciting concepts that are changing urban governance. For example, Manchester is now trying to crowdfund an urban regeneration project. At the same time, many governments are rightly concerned about the challenges and that come with greater engagement. Amidst these developments, city governments are asking themselves how they can best engage their citizens, what issues they could anticipate, which strategies they should adopt, and what models they can learn from.
To explore some of these questions, the Centre for Liveable Cities recently conducted a research project in collaboration with our partners, including the cities of New York, Bilbao and Hong Kong. Some of our findings are published as an Essayin this issue of URBAN SOLUTIONS, which has a special focus on public engagement. Our Case Study and Illustrationsections feature diverse practices from Singapore, Colombia, Israel and Europe, while our Interview and Opinion pieces carry insights from leading engagement practitioners and experts. We hope these pages alert you to important trends, equip you with practical knowledge, and inspire you to engage your communities more effectively.
On another note, the Centre for Liveable Cities is pleased to launch this issue of our magazine in conjunction with the fourth annual WORLD CITIES SUMMIT MAYORS FORUM, in June 2013. The forum has become one of the largest and most important gatherings of its kind, and is being held outside of Singapore for the first time this year in the city of Bilbao – the inaugural winner of the LEE KUAN YEW WORLD CITY PRIZE. To mark this occasion, our City Focus section looks at Bilbao, and I am sure both our forum participants and magazine readers will learn much from this remarkable city.
Happy reading!
Khoo Teng Chye
Executive Director
Centre for Liveable Cities