Digital Civic Participation v2.0

ended

Due to the necessity for urgent, flexible decisions during the COVID-19 crisis, regulatory power has substantially shifted toward the government and local authorities, thus creating an imbalance of societal representation in political decision-making. Meaningful participation is critical when it comes to achieving socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable outcomes. Convincing exemplary projects have demonstrated how citizen engagement appeal and digital participation are essential in crisis situations such as climate change and pandemics. The project will explore the relationship between digitally enabled participatory tools and democracy, including such dimensions as citizen demand, state power, collective action and mobilization. DCP2 v2.0 aims at innovating the civic educational process resulting in increased participation of young people in their communities. As part of this innovation, a user friendly manual will be developed, which will gather and present a collection of known e-participation tools, with practical examples to enhance civic participation. In conclusion, the projects attempts to assess whether investing in digital tools to enhance participation during COVID-19 is appropriate. One consideration is whether their use, post-pandemic, will maintain or extend audience participation. Additionally, activities that increase participants’ access to and interaction with planning processes, and the knowledge and data they provide, might also have positive long-term impacts on other stakeholders, such as local communities. However, we need to keep in mind that digital technologies are not neutral and should not be used blindly. As a part of the participation palette, however, they can potentially help projects to reach a larger number of stakeholders.