ICLEI Members Rome (Italy) and Hamburg (Germany) have detailed their experiences around holding a Smartathon, a forum in which citizens are invited to give feedback on plans by the smarticipate project to use technology to increase citizen involvement in urban planning decisions. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London (United Kingdom) has also published a blog post outlining their Smartathon experience.

Rome’s post looks towards the Smartathon, detailing the challenges of organising such an event. To give Smartathon participants a better understanding of what the event will involve, Rome held two pre-meetings. “The second meeting was a simulation of the Smartathon,” said Patricia Hernandez, international relations expert with the City of Rome. “We showed participants how the London and Hamburg editions were held, screening the event videos and showing pictures and so on, and giving them a hint of the type of data they will be dealing with. By showing them the previous Smartathons we made it clear that they will run the show!”

In Hamburg, participants at the event agreed that ICT platforms can play an important role in citizen engagement, but had different ideas of how to realise a fruitful cooperation between citizens and the city administration. “I think there are many people who joined the first Smartathon who want to see how it develops,” said Fritz Boysen, a participant at the Hamburg Smartathon. “One participant told me that next time she would come back with all her friends and colleagues.”

For more information, visit the smarticipate website.