The City Speaks
- September, 2017
- Citibeats Academy
Turning #hashtags into action: Understanding citizen concerns
Citizens are the individual units of a city. While an isolated citizen may be powerless in reshaping the status quo, collectively, citizens can enact meaningful change. A citizen has a voice, but it sometimes struggles to be heard. Smaller concerns can be just as important as larger ones. How can communities effectively transform individual voices into feasible solutions? By using technology to gather real-time citizen concerns —discovering the “inside scoop.”
Citizens are the individual units of a city. While an isolated citizen may be powerless in reshaping the status quo, collectively, citizens can enact meaningful change. A citizen has a voice, but it sometimes struggles to be heard. Smaller concerns can be just as important as larger ones. How can communities effectively transform individual voices into feasible solutions? By using technology to gather real-time citizen concerns —discovering the “inside scoop.”
Beyond each citizen
Behind each concern is a citizen’s unique history, background, and identity that shapes that person’s beliefs and views toward the world at large. These different perspectives and different backgrounds come together to form the social fabric of a city —a fabric that determines the city’s overall character while serving as a foundation for its various political and economic structures. A city’s social fabric is the backbone of any city, and the various views and opinions that individuals offer should be held as necessary insight for a city’s success.
Ground agents
Cities should view their citizens as ground agents —individuals who see the inner workings of a city by living and actively participating in the city’s framework. What works and doesn’t work for them? What issues do they encounter? Where is there potential room for improvement?
Citizens see the triumphs and pitfalls in everyday city-life, and are, therefore, the best resource for discovering blunders and oversights in urban structures and services.
Inspiring action
Citizens, in addition to their ability to perceive and recognize issues in their community/ neighborhood/ city, have the ability to help solve them. Cities should inspire their citizens to become actively engaged in their communities to help where government action —or inaction— has fallen short. Active citizens vote in their local elections, promote issues that they believe in, and even volunteer at local organizations that support their causes.
Understanding the hashtags
What if we could listen to individual citizens by providing a platform where people can vocalize their concerns, offer their take on pressing city issues, and give city governments early warnings about future problems. The good news is that this platform already exists: social media. But the key is how do city administrations effectively systematize and take advantage of the vast social information available through media and other public news founts to enact meaningful change in their cities?
Using technological innovation to transform individual voices into feasible solutions is the ultimate problem-solving approach for a forward-thinking city.
The all-encompassing power of social media and cutting edge AI technology, Citibeats platform gives city governments the ability to see the real concerns of citizens in real-time, offering instant solutions for the needs of a dynamic city.
Want to hear from us?
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated!
