Digital innovation in local government: projects from around the world | Public Leaders Network | The Guardian
Innovation is the watchword of the moment in local government, and looking beyond the UK there are some really exciting projects. Technology is being used across the globe to improve services. From a game on your phone that lets you play at controlling your neighbourhood to an innovation lab, we bring you some initiatives we’ve come across.
France – Territoires en Résidences (Territories in Residence)
La 27e Région, a French public innovation lab, focuses on how we can change the way public authorities operate and make sure they engage better with the public. The main idea is to organise “residences”, long periods of immersion of small creative teams of people working in different areas. These residences allow the people who use local authority services to feed back their ideas to update and where necessary transform regional policies.
Stéphane Vincent and Romain Thévenet, directors of the projects said: “We co-design with the population, do friendly hacking of the administrative structure, prototype new services and report back to track the lessons learned.”
Colombia – Mi Ciudad Ideal (My Ideal City)
My Ideal City is a platform that involves anyone interested in making Bogotá a better city. The foundation of this project is the My Ideal City site, where everyday people talk about trends in urban living across the world. The discussion inspires redevelopment plans that will be presented to city planners.
One of the site’s founders, Piers Fawkes, said: “The key is citizen participation. Through the My Ideal City project, this basic yet revolutionary idea will make a huge difference to the average Bogotano – and to people living in cities around the world. It will reinvigorate their sense of collective pride and spark them into action through participation.”
Australia – Run That Town
Run That Town is an iphone game that lets you take control of any neighbourhood in Australia and use real census data to make decisions that affect the development of your story. You can discover who’s who in your area, and make decisions that will sway popular opinion in your favour. To put it simply, it’s like SimCity but using real-life city data.
Sue Taylor, director of the 2016 Australian census, said the game demonstrated, in a simple, visual and entertaining way, the many ways data can be usedy.
UK – Merton Ward Profiles
Previously, Merton ward profiles were 20-page documents (for each ward) “summarising” the key facts. But, using a combination of Microsoft Powerpoint, Excel and infogr.am, Eshaan Akbar, policy, strategy and partnerships officer at Merton borough council, was able to give a clearer and simpler overview of some of the key statistics from the 2011 Census.
“Council officers and Members have welcomed the simplicity of having an easy snapshot of a ward on a single page,” said Akbar. “Following this project, there is real appetite for presenting complex information as simply and as engagingly as possible. The innovation lies in its simplicity, using existing software available to everyone and in being compatible with mobile devices.”
If you’ve spotted an interesting digital product or service in local government, why not leave a comment and help us gather even more inspiration?
Ben Matthews is head of communications at Futuregov .
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