WeGovNow is a three year research and innovation project focusing on civic participation in local government. It aims to change the relationship between citizens and local governments, transforming the citizen’s role from customer into partner. This is to be achieved with the development of an integrated community engagement platform, where citizens can interact with their governments and participate in local decision-making.
The platform will allow people to report local community problems and explore ways of solving them through collective action. It addresses the current limitations of e-participation by encouraging citizens to debate, develop and vote on concrete policy suggestions.
Our Role
With our expertise in participatory mapping and community engagement, Mapping for Change are involved in developing the interactive map component of the WeGovNow platform through a user centred design approach.
The project is funded by Horizon 2020, the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and it will include case studies in the London Borough of Southwark, City of Turin, and San Dona di Piave, Italy. In developing the platform, partners are collaborating with multiple stakeholders such as representatives from local authorities, public service providers, citizens and action groups as well as local enterprises.
Related Projects
Putting Ourselves on the Map
Mapping for Change in collaboration with the Humanities Education Centre (HEC) and local specialist on learning and ‘place’ Maggie Hewitt, worked with three schools in Tower Hamlets (Columbia School Community Map, Arnhem Wharf School Community Map and John Scurr School Community Map) to pilot a brand new process in which Year 4 pupils develop personalised maps of their local area with their own likes, memories and views on change.
Breathe Clean - Citizen Science in Tower Hamlets
Breathe Clean will be providing Tower Hamlets residents with the materials & training needed to monitor nitrogen dioxide levels around the places that matter to them. Participants will measure the air quality at a number of locations over a period of six months, to get a more granular picture of the situation in the borough. The data from the Breathe Clean project will be made available on Mapping for Change’s community maps webpage.
Kampala NOSES; Network for Odour Sensing Empowerment and Sustainability.
Kampala NOSES is a pilot project that seeks to introduce novel ways with which to monitor and record odour issues across Kampala. All key stakeholders, from policy-makers to public sector administrators, from academics to industries and the community at large are needed to create a longer-term vision of implementing new environmental reporting and governance mechanisms.