On Tuesday, 22 February 2022, the UserCentriCities community gathered for the fifth edition of the UserCentriCafé meeting series.
During the Café, partner cities and regions get together to informally discuss real examples of user-centric services. Each month, a selected city- or region-partner shares their experience on how they apply user-centricity, sparking conversation and feedback from participants.
In this session, Kim Llanto, development leader, and Anders Johansson, senior digital strategist at the city of Gothenburg, presented two innovative and user-centric citizen engagement applications.
The first one, Anmäl Hinder is a tool for citizens with disabilities to report incidents and accessibility issues they find in the city in their everyday life. Developed together with a group of citizens, where they discussed their necessities and issues, the open-source app allows people to report incidents through an easy five-step process. The idea was built on an e-service that the city of Gothenburg offered before but didn’t quite work since it was only accessible through a computer. Anmäl Hinder has received 300 incident reports in one year compared to the 50 reports received previously through the e-service in two years.
The second is Smarta Kartan, a sustainability map created by a group of citizens who got together with the idea of developing a resources map where people could trade, share, rent or give away any goods they want, from fruits in their backyards to bikes and cars. Like all of Gotheburg’s digital tools, Smarta Kartan has an open-source code that is easily replicable. It has been replicated in Malmo and Stockholm with different iterations. It also offers a storyboard where people can create news stories on what they are working on.
The offline process for developing both services was done through the service design method. This method offers the easiest and safest way to gather information and the Swedish authorities have been very keen on fostering it accross their public services.
Gothenburg is also working on a platform for digital democracy – Decidim. Inspired by Barcelona and Helsinki, the platform offers citizens the possibility of engaging in participatory processes such as budget and urban planning. The presentation inspired conversation from other UserCentriCities partners also working on participatory platforms, such as Milano Partecipa, where they involve citizens to consult on their climate and air plan. Another example presented was Decide Madrid, where citizens can present and vote their initiatives and proposals, from dog parks to new parking spaces, and decide jointly what to implement.
For more information on UserCentriCities and how to join the community, please contact mayra.garcia-blasquez@eurocities.eu