Techniques and initiatives in the infrastructure consultation process

Oliver Vido

September 2012

Topics to cover

in this

presentation • Latest trends in community consultation

• Tools used to engage the community in the

delivery of services and public infrastructure

• Use of social media tools in the active

engagement of communities to determine the

service needs related to public works

infrastructure

• Lessons learnt from the liveable cities

Introduction

Study Tour Locations

• Helskini (Finland)

• Tallinn (Estonia)

• Stockholm (Sweden)

• Malmo (Sweden)

• Staffanstorp (Sweden)

• Copenhagen (Denmark)

• Rudersdal (Denmark)

• Munich (Germany)

• Zurich (Switzerland)

• Vienna (Austria)

In addition, we visited MindLab in Denmark

IFME CONEFRENCE

OVERVIEW

“Sustainable Communities”

SESSIONS OF INTEREST

• Carl Hagland- Senior Finnish Politician

• Impact of the economic crisis on

municipalities in Europe

• Ulf Ranhagen – Professor at KTH Royal

Institute of Technology, Sweden

• Delegate for sustainable cities

• 75% of global population will live in

cities in next few decades

• Next 20-30 years 3 Billion people will

live in cities

IFME CONEFRENCE • Roger Bryne – Mentor Institution of

Municipal

• Implementing sustainable Infrastructure

Asset Management

• Urbanisation

• 2% growth into cities (22% more

assets in 10 year period)

• 4% growth (48% more assets)

• Asset management plans provide a

tool for public administrators to speak

to politicians and community

The Role of Infrastructure in the Liveability of a City

• Infrastructure supports the fabric of modern

society and provides a platform for economic

growth

• Infrastructure facilitates the production of

goods and services

• Distributes products to market

• Infrastructure provides the facilities for social

services such as schools and hospitals

• Provides services for society to function (water

supply, sewers, electrical grids,

telecommunication etc)

• As public works professionals we have an

obligation to provide infrastructure that

supports a livable city

Therefore; this can only be achieved

through understanding the community

needs

Community Engagement and Developing Liveable Cities

• Empower the community to build coalitions of

support for projects and initiatives

• Provide opportunities for the community to

engage with decision makers

• This leads to better informed decisions

• Projects targeted to peoples needs

• Local government – voice of the community

• Can be demanding on decision making

Social Media and the Public Sector Engineer

• Social Media, we are working in a changing

world

• Community expectations are growing for

governments to engage, work openly and be

more accountable

• Council not engaging with its community,

represents a greater risk than engaging

• Communities use these networks to talk about

councils, whether council adds its voice or not

• Social media is an opportunity for councils, not

a challenge

• British governments spend 400 million Euro a

year advertising to reach 60 million

Wikipedia spends 1% of that to reach 280

million people

Australian Use of Social Media

• By 2020, business transactions on the Internet

(business –to–business–to–consumer) are

predicted to reach 450 billion a day.

• The following are the major social media

platforms used in Australia (as at November,

2011)

• Facebook – 10,659,580 users / 13 million

Unique Australian Visitors/year (UAVs)

• You Tube – 11 million UAVs

• LinkedIn – 2 million UAVs

• Twitter – 1.8 million UAVs

• WordPress.com – 1.6 million

• Flickr – 1.1 million UAVs

• MySpace – 560,000 UAVs

• Google Plus – 540,000 Users

The Use of Social Media to Engage the Community

Location based apps

QR Codes

Augmented Reality (AR)

The Use of Social Media to Engage the Community

Alternate Gaming Reality

Futurist Scenario Planning

The Use of Social Media to Engage the Community

Social Networking

STUDY TOUR SITE VISITS

Profile

• Capital of Finland

• Population approx 600,000

Observations

• Currently looking at new methods of community engagement

• EOI called

• 9 projects will be selected as pilot projects

• One project will focus on Ruuti, a participation channel for young people

• City of Helsinki has introduced SMS messaging

• Street sweeping

• Elderly resident alerts

Helsinki, Finland

Tallinn, Estonia Profile

• Capital of Estonia

• City population approx 420,000

• Population split 52% Estonians, 38% Russians and 4% Ukrainians

Observations

• 70% of all public services are delivered by local government

Tallinn, Estonia

Method of Community Engagement

• Printed information and PR materials

regularly distributed,

• Involvement of people in city management,

including roundtables, public discussions,

polls and supporting the activity of citizens

and civil associations

• Reflecting city life in media, Tallinn TV and

city weekly newspaper and city district

newspapers;

• Community engagement in strategic

planning;

• Citizen’s unions engagement in service

provision;

• Service satisfaction surveys

• Changes in e-service levels by moving

toward the highest level, (i.e. fully

interactive e-services)

• Dedicated programs for Russian speaking

residents

.

Tallinn, Estonia New Initiatives for Community Engagement

• SMS notification system

• Youth council

• City Ombudsman

• Vadabase square community screen

• E-services

• Virtual service hall (Contains information on all services)

Stockholm, Sweden

Profile

• Capital of Sweden

• Population approx 900,000

Observations

• Fast growing, in 20 years population will increase by 150,000

Hammarby Sjostad

• Successful example of modern urban development

• 7,000 of the 11,000 homes complete

• Design commenced in 2008

• Work started 2010

• Children's impact assessment

Stockholm, Sweden

Frihamnen Docks

• Development singled out 15 years ago

• Brownfield site

• 10,000 homes

• 30,000 workspaces

The communication with the community on this project

• City of Stockholm digital newsletter published four time a year

• Information Meetings with residents approximately twice per year

• Meetings with business owners

• Joint project website

Staffanstorp, Sweden

Profile

• Located southern Sweden

• Population 20,000

• Largely rural

Observations

• Large investment in G.I.S and in documenting as much as possible for communication

• Belief that 70% of all information held by council can be represented in a graphical format

Staffanstorp, Sweden

By graphical representation residents can see how to plan will affect their surroundings

Space Syntax

Malmo, Sweden

Profile

• Commercial centre of South Sweden

• Population 300,000

• Population growing at 5000-6000 / year

Observations

Vastra Hamnen

• Kockum shipyards transformed

• 175 hectare artificial island

• Focus eco-district

• Wind turbines produce 100% of districts electricity

• Solar panels produce 20% of heating requirements

• Creative Dialogue (ByggaBoDialogen) used by the city

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo Initiative

• Internet based platform where locals can make suggestions and comments relating

to Malmo

Malmo Panel

• Panel of 1600 Malmo residents have their say on issues brought up by council twice

a year

Copenhagen, Denmark

Profile

• Capital of Denmark

• Population approx 1.2 million

• 35% of residents commute to work by bicycle

Observations

• Municipal Plan legally binding on administration

• Frame work for local plans which are enforceable

• 12 year planning period with 4 year review

• “Copenhagen and Malmo – One City” in order to make residents in each city feel more than just members of the region

Interesting Fact -

District heating

Mindlab, Denmark

• Mindlab is a cross-ministerial innovation

department

• Headed By Christian Bason

• Ministry of Business and Growth;

• Ministry of Taxation; and

• Ministry of Employment

MineLab’s process model

1. Scoping and Project Design

2. Learning about the Users

3. Analysis data and discussions

4. Idea and concept development

5. Test of New concepts

6. Communication of Results

7. Measuring

Community Engagement

Community Engagement

The Way Forward

Rudersdal, Denmark

Profile

• Northern most municipality in Greater Copenhagen region

• Population 53,000

• Rural area, high income

Observations

• Many of the local roads are privately owned (residents can afford and like privacy)

• Lack of capacity of storm water system (water disconnection subsidy)

• Engagement methods largely traditional

• City activation by changing use of city centre areas

Munich, Germany

City Profile

• Population 1.3 million

• Part of federal state of Bavaria

Observations

• Voted most liveable city

• Third airport runway defeated

• Popular Initiative (Burgerbegenren)

• Citizens’ Decision (Burgerentscheid)

Zurich, Switzerland

Profile

• Largest city in Switzerland

• Population 390,000

Observations

• Non profit housing promoted by the city

• Integrated planning of infrastructure works

• Public perception though integrated

planning

• 2008 public referendum on energy usage

• Ambitious targets reduce primary energy

usage by ⅓. Reduce greenhouse

emissions by one sixth by 2050

• 76.4% yes vote

• 2000 watt society connected with the

community

• Many traditional engagement methods

used

• City conducts survey after 12 months of

infrastructure completion

Vienna, Austria

Profile

• Largest city in Vienna

• Population approx 1.7 million residents

Observations

• 50% green spaces within city boundaries

• Current challenges:

• Land stock only sufficient for next 7-8 years

• Green space split not negotiable

• Social areas taking a greater split of dollars

• Transportation planning, increase bicycle use

• Currently questioning are the level of service too high?

Conclusion

Measure of Urban Quality

• Traffic

• Security

• Walking

• Staying

• Seeing talking and hearing

• Activities and Interaction

• Climate

• Aesthetic quality

Recommendations

• Expand web based solutions to communicate

• Use Service planning to understand community needs

• Capital plans need to be longer term and publically available

• Integrated planning

• Take active role in sustainability and climate adaption

• Embrace communication tools like social media

• Build collaboration across regional areas

• Connect with the community in new ways

• Be open to ideas which may challenge professional thinking

• Ensure young people have a voice

• Use professionally skilled people to bridge the communication gap

• Use art culture and other creative ways to connect with the community

Challenge the status quo