Description of the topic
The increasing civic awareness and the accessibility of specialist knowledge increase residents’ expectations that managers will apply the principle of transparency and ensure social participation in the decision-making process with regard to public matters, in particular the responsibility for the solutions which will be worked out collectively. The rapid information flow is becoming more and more important in shaping opinions and organizing social protests. The media and technologies make it possible to get to know other opinions swiftly and create the attitudes of openness, understanding, innovation and cooperation. The personalized communication becomes a standard in the public space, while cities should adjust to this trend. On the other hand, we are becoming more and more resilient to the manners in which institutions intend to influence us. We can defend ourselves more effectively, which makes us see less notifications, including the valuable ones. We are becoming less trustful. A great challenge is to reach out to the target group and persuade its members about the valuable content, particularly due to the fact that cities are among those institutions which mostly require their residents to communicate in very formal ways. It is important for the administration to open to residents and social organizations which would like to engage into urban projects. The role of the city is increasingly to inspire, initiate and support innovation and bottom-up initiatives by seeking non-standard solutions to standard problems. Thus, social capital is built, the quality of life of residents improves and needs of local communities are satisfied. There is a shift in the way of thinking about organizational structures – departments organized around topics and competences are replaced by project teams. Such trends take place in dynamically developing cities and so will be the cities of the future.
Objectives
- Mutual learning and creating new ideas where contradictory opinions and alternative visions of the future meet.
- Identifying barriers and restrictions for processes in which residents co-create the city.
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