digital participation tools

One of the core innovations around Open Data is always the content of what is being openly published and how it's being made use of. In this session of the ISCN Global Mixer we want to look at how Open data can drive more inclusive policies, as shown by care economy indicator systems in Mexico City and Buenos Aires and reuse cases from the Global South.

Key takeaways

• Open data creates public value: Making information accessible enables evidence-based decisions that improve lives.
• Care economy as a lens: Data about caregiving helps expose invisible work and inequalities, informing fairer policies.
• Local action, global relevance: Examples from Latin America highlight transferable strategies for cities worldwide.
• Reusability matters: When data is open, it can be repurposed by researchers, NGOs, and civic innovators to solve real problems.
• Collaboration drives impact: Partnerships between governments, civil society, and international networks enhance sustainability.
• Trust through transparency: Publishing and sharing data openly fosters accountability and strengthens public trust.

When governments commit to open data, communities benefit from more informed, inclusive, and equitable policies. Across the Global South, cities are demonstrating how transparency and data reuse can empower decision-making and strengthen social care systems. Natalia Carfi from Open Data Charter explored how open data initiatives in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and other regions are driving new approaches to understanding and addressing care needs in urban environments.

While many governments publish datasets, the content – what data is shared and how it is used – determines its real social value. By focusing on care economy indicators, cities like Mexico City and Buenos Aires have turned abstract principles into actionable insight. These systems track who provides and receives care, where support gaps exist, and how policies can better reflect the realities of women and families balancing unpaid care responsibilities.

Beyond Latin America, reuse cases from across the Global South illustrate how open data can serve as a bridge between communities, policymakers, and service providers. Examples include data-driven resource allocation, mapping of care infrastructure, and social policy design based on lived experiences. In each case, the key lesson is that open data becomes transformative only when it connects directly to human needs.

The conversation also underlined the importance of governance frameworks such as the Open Data Charter, which help ensure consistency, ethics, and interoperability. These frameworks enable cities to adapt and scale successful approaches without reinventing the wheel. By prioritising accessibility, clarity, and participation, open data initiatives can strengthen democratic practices and deliver tangible improvements in people’s everyday lives.

Ultimately, the session demonstrated that open data is not only a technical issue but a social and cultural one. By embracing openness as a tool for inclusion and empowerment, cities can better understand and respond to the realities of care work, inequality, and resilience – paving the way toward more equitable, informed, and human-centred urban development.

This event is part of the ISCN Global Mixer, a series of events organized by the International Smart Cities Network. The presentations cover a wide range of topics related to international smart city approaches and provide exciting insights into urban digitalization worldwide - in just 30 minutes.

Year of publication: 2025

In this session of the ISCN Global Mixer we will look at the Citiverse in Korea, an immersive approach with which the country is advancing its Smart Cities and which puts people at the center of urban innovation. Pilot projects like Seoul’s Metaverse Government Platform test how digitalization can foster inclusive governance, new services, and richer citizen engagement.

Key takeaways

• South Korea has evolved from early smart city leadership into a new frontier of immersive, human-focused urban innovation.
• The Cityverse represents a paradigm shift – merging physical and digital environments to foster participation, trust, and social inclusion.
• National pilot projects, regulatory innovation, and R&D consortia are transforming how citizens interact with governance, services, and culture.
• The long-term vision is to build resilient, people-first cities where technology enables meaningful engagement rather than driving it.
• Addressing privacy, accessibility, and digital equity remains critical to ensuring that innovation benefits all citizens.

Korea is exploring how to take smart cities to the next level – moving beyond digital twins toward the Citiverse, an immersive approach that places people at the centre of urban innovation. Through government-led R&D projects and pilot initiatives – such as Seoul’s Metaverse Government Platform – the country is testing how digitalisation can be harnessed for more inclusive governance, new service models, and richer citizen engagement.

Ellie Lee from the Smart City Association of South Korea shared how the nation is redefining smart urbanism – from data-driven efficiency to human-centred, participatory city ecosystems designed for resilience in the digital era.

Korea’s journey toward the Citiverse builds on three decades of smart-city development. It began in 1994 with a government-led high-speed internet initiative that laid the foundation for today’s connected urban infrastructure. Early programmes such as the Ubiquitous City Project integrated ICT into city planning and operations, creating data-based governance structures that positioned Korea as a global pioneer.

The Smart City Law of 2018 formalised this progress, introducing regulatory sandboxes that allowed startups to test new technologies under real conditions and enabling integrated operation centres for unified traffic, environment, and citizen management. Pilot projects such as Sejong 5-1 District and Busan Eco-Delta City demonstrate how data-driven systems can support sustainable growth, innovation, and environmental stewardship.

Building on this foundation, the Citiverse marks a decisive shift from technological connectivity toward immersive, human-centred experiences. Instead of observing data from a distance, citizens engage directly with virtual layers of the city through digital twins, AI-based simulations, and immersive governance platforms. This transformation allows people to participate in urban planning, explore digital cultural spaces, or attend virtual consultations – bringing inclusivity and collaboration to the heart of city life.

By combining AI-driven analytics, virtual participation, and cyber-physical integration, the Citiverse strengthens both innovation and democratic engagement. Yet challenges such as privacy protection, interoperability, and equal digital access remain essential for building public trust and ensuring no one is left behind.

Ultimately, Korea’s vision extends beyond technology: it seeks to make cities more empathetic, transparent, and participatory – where digitalisation enhances belonging and resilience, and where citizens help shape the evolving relationship between the physical and virtual worlds.

This event is part of the ISCN Global Mixer, a series of events organized by the International Smart Cities Network. The presentations cover a wide range of topics related to international smart city approaches and provide exciting insights into urban digitalization worldwide - in just 30 minutes.

Year of publication: 2025

Democracy is under pressure, in municipalities and beyond. In this episode of the ISCN Global Mixer we want to look at the status quo of digital citizen participation in (smart) cities. Join us as we get a first-hand update from Decidim, one of the plattforms and communities with the biggest legacy creating multi-faceted digital participation and decisionmaking by, from and for the people.

Key takeaways

• Decidim is a modular, open-source platform that enables participatory processes such as budgeting, consultations, and collaborative policymaking.
• The platform’s hybrid participation model combines online and face-to-face engagement, strengthening inclusion and democratic legitimacy.
• Transparency, accountability, and openness are core principles that foster public trust and long-term sustainability.
• Governed through a public–commons partnership, Decidim demonstrates how digital infrastructures can be co-managed as shared public goods.
• Global communities continuously expand and localize the platform, ensuring cultural adaptability, interoperability, and future readiness.

Across the past decade, a “deliberative wave” – as described by the OECD – has swept through cities and institutions worldwide, driven by digital technologies and civic innovation. Yet in times of democratic fatigue and growing discontent, cities face the challenge of maintaining trust and engagement while navigating rapid digital transformation.

Nil Homedes Busquets, Director of Decidim, explored how the open-source digital platform, originally developed by the City of Barcelona, has evolved from a local civic project into a global infrastructure for participatory democracy. Nearly a decade after its creation, Decidim is now used by more than 450 organizations worldwide – from municipalities to cooperatives and civic movements – enabling citizens to collectively propose, debate, and decide on public policies within a transparent, inclusive, and democratic framework.

Its success lies in a modular architecture, structured around participatory spaces (where participation takes place, such as budgeting or consultations) and components (tools for proposals, meetings, surveys, or accountability). This modular building system lets institutions configure Decidim to their specific needs, ensuring flexibility and scalability.

The hybrid participation model bridges digital and in-person deliberation: citizens can attend meetings, submit proposals online, and track how decisions are implemented, making governance more inclusive and transparent. To build trust and security, Decidim integrates AI-assisted moderation, identity verification, and open APIs for connecting with other civic systems – even exploring links to urban digital twins for evidence-based policymaking.

Its governance structure stands out as a public-commons partnership. Maintained by the Decidim Association, an independent, community-led organization, the platform exemplifies how digital infrastructures can be jointly managed by governments and civil society as shared public goods – strengthening digital sovereignty and long-term sustainability.

Recent updates include informal participation features, co-authored proposals, and a read/write API, broadening functionality and inclusivity. Local communities worldwide – from Europe to Japan and Latin America – continue to adapt Decidim to their cultural and linguistic contexts, showing how open collaboration can scale globally without losing democratic integrity.

Decidim demonstrates that digital participation can remain citizen-owned, transparent, and trustworthy when technology is governed democratically. The platform embodies a new understanding of how digital infrastructures can serve the public good – not as tools of efficiency, but as enablers of collective intelligence, openness, and civic empowerment. By linking participation with innovation and accountability, Decidim offers a compelling vision of how cities can strengthen democracy and public trust in the digital age.

This event is part of the ISCN Global Mixer, a series of events organized by the International Smart Cities Network. The presentations cover a wide range of topics related to international smart city approaches and provide exciting insights into urban digitalization worldwide - in just 30 minutes.

Year of publication: 2024

In this episode of the ISCN Global Mixer, Martin Bangratz from RWTH Aachen presented the research project “Digital City-makers” and gave insights into the role of grassroots initiatives in shaping the life and development of cities.

Urban planning and governance face ever-increasing challenges in reconciling digital innovation with justice and sustainability needs. In this ISCN Global Mixer, Martin Bangratz (RWTH Aachen) presented the research project “Digital City-makers” and the role of grassroots initiatives in shaping the life and development of cities. Through a mixed-methods, cross-case analysis of three geographically diverse contexts, his research unveils various ways in which digital technologies are appropriated by and for communities.

These digitally enhanced bottom-up processes, ranging from supporting local governments in Japan, leveraging corporate skills for societal benefit in the U.S., to creating alternatives to hegemonic planning in Germany, can be seen as complementary and networked ways of urban participation. They do not just utilize digital technologies; they actively (re)appropriate them with the intention to serve the community's best interests. They employ self-managed methods for collecting, curating, visualizing, and governing both local spaces and data. 
This presentation gave an overview of global initiatives with local impacts by showcasing practical examples and touched on some of the critical debates surrounding urbanism in the digital age.

The event was part of the ISCN Global Mixer, a series of events organized by the International Smart Cities Network. The presentations cover a wide range of topics related to international smart city approaches and provide exciting insights into urban digitalization worldwide - in just 30 minutes.

Year of publication: 2024

Key take-aways

Ownership is important: to stay independent of third-party providers or developers, it is essential for cities and communities to own their app

Real open source: The source code of the app is freely available and ready to use

Wide range of features for different use cases: The Smart Village App offers a wide range of functions which allows cities and communities to customize the app to meet their specific needs

The Smart Village App is a comprehensive solution to make information in rural areas more readily available to citizens. The app includes functions such as citizen services, integration of Open Street Maps, news, appointment bookings, etc. Furthermore, it is embedded in an institutional framework allowing for replication with lower barriers and faster procurement processes.

The founder of the Smart Village App, Philipp Wilimzig, presented the app in this episode of the ISCN Global Mixer and highlighted the benefits that using an app as a communication platform can bring to cities and communities, such as easy accessibility through smartphones, direct communication trough push-notifications and location-based services. 

One important use case for the Smart Village App is citizen participation. It includes several features that help municipalities stay in touch with their citizens. These range from simple event calendars to digital participation surveys and forum discussions. 

According to Philip Wilimzig, the open source approach is key to the success of the Smart Village App. It allows the municipalities to remain independent and avoids vendor lock-in effects. It also leads to more transparency and a verifiable quality. Moreover, it makes it easier for communities to interact and develop new features together.