Day: March 17, 2022

+CityxChange at High-level Conference on Citizen Engagement in EU Missions

Helena Fitzgerald of University of Limerick and CommunityxChange Work Package Lead is attending the High-level Conference on Citizen Engagement in EU Missions taking place on 21 March 2022 in Paris. She will share the CommunityxChange approach to citizen engagement developed through +CityxChange and implemented with +CityxChange lighthouse cities Limerick (Ireland) and Trondheim (Norway); and the municipalities of Alba Iulia (Romania); Pisek (Czech Republic); Võru (Estonia); Smolyan (Bulgaria): and Sestao (Spain).

Early results of CommunityxChange implementation indicate that the integrated operation of the six CommunityxChange frameworks can create a platform for continuing collaboration with the potential to support citizen engagement in co-design, co-implementation and co-assessment of #EUMissions.

CommunityxChange informs the operation of the Citizen Innovation Lab initiated through the +CityxChange project in Limerick. The Citizen Innovation Lab is a member of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) who have a stand at the event.

Here is a brief introduction to the CommunityxChange frameworks which can be downloaded from the +CityxChange knowledge base.

D3.1: Framework for Bold City Vision, Guidelines, and Incentive Schemes (SDG City Transition Framework) describes a process to create a city vision and to identify goals which place the clean energy transition within the cities’ overarching planning and management processes, all located within a broader UN SDG sustainable development frame. This deliverable, authored by Trondheim Kommune with input from Limerick City and County Council, has been selected for the EU H2020 Innovation Radar Platform. It is structured as six processes including, Standardisation, Policy Development, Innovation Partnerships, Organisational Development, Citizen Engagement and Project Development, to connect the global goals of the SDGs to local policy development placing emphasis on citizen engagement, citizen driven open innovation and business development. 

D3.2: Delivery of the Citizen Participation Playbook describes how municipalities can engage with communities to enable the transformation towards PEBs, PEDs and positive energy cities. It acts as a roadmap for meaningful engagement and contains best practice guidance on citizen engagement; a catalogue of physical and online engagement tools; and four participatory processes including Co-design of Urban Interventions, Collaborative Legislation, Participatory Budgeting, and Citizen Proposals. 

– D3.3: Framework for Innovation Playgrounds is a spatial and socio-economic framework where physical and virtual places and innovation activities are assembled into a coherent whole described as an Innovation Playground, where Journeys comprising Observation, Sensemaking, Co-Creation, and Prototyping, enable collaboration and empower citizens to innovate to address challenges that matter to them.

D3.4: Framework for DPEB Learning and Education – includes a set of principles and a dynamic portfolio of activities which integrates youth learning programmes at different age levels with active ageing society programmes.

D3.5: Framework for a Positive Energy Champion Network is a campaign to initiate a network of people who can help translate the ideas, plans and innovations associated with PEBS and PEDs into local knowledge and actions. The Champions are viewed as co-innovators who explore, ideate, design and diffuse the changes in behaviour needed to enable the transformation towards living, working and doing business in a positive energy city. This campaign includes four campaign formats – Be the Change; Build Capacity for Change; Prototype the Change and Amplify the Change, and a step-by-step guide to implement a campaign. 

D3.6: Framework for DPEB Innovation Labs is a framework for the implementation of dedicated centres for digital innovation within a city, located physically and conceptually within the +CityxChange Innovation Playground and where its operation can become manifest. A DPEB Innovation Lab comprises a programme of engagement activities and events, and a network of virtual and physical locations connected to a citizen observatory system where citizens can make observations on local environments using mobile digital devices. The DPEB Innovation Lab enables new collaborations between government, academia, business, and civil society to meet the innovation agenda of a city which can be defined through its Bold City Vision process. The DPEB Innovation Lab is a point of intersection of the CommunityxChange frameworks and describes a physical space for innovation and co-creation, connected to a digital space promoting sustainable digitalisation and lowering the threshold to participation.

The CommunityxChange frameworks were developed by +CityxChange partners including University of Limerick (CommunityxChange Lead); Colaborativa.eu, Space Engagers, Officinae Verdi and ISOCARP, collaborating closely with +CityxChange lighthouse cities Limerick (Ireland) and Trondheim (Norway); and with the municipalities of Alba Iulia (Romania); Pisek (Czech Republic); Võru (Estonia); Smolyan (Bulgaria): and Sestao (Spain). The Norwegian University of Science and Technology are the overall co-ordinator of the +CityxChange project.