Constructive discussions in
five thematic forums
In the online city debate, five thematic discussion forums were offered with one or two
hosts:
"How should Zurich change structurally?"
Host: Patrick Gmür, Director of the Office of Urban Development
«Where are Zurich's borders?»
Host: Brigit Wehrli, Director of Urban Development Zurich until 11/2011
«How do we want to live together?»
Host: Mirjam Schlup Villaverde, Director of Social Services
«How do we live with 2000 watts?»
Hosts: Bruno Hohl, Director of Environment and Health Protection, and Felix Schmid, Deputy Energy Commissioner of the City of Zurich
"How do we move around the city?"
Host: François Aellen, Director of the Civil Engineering Office
of the City of Zurich
The five discussion forums were moderated by employees of Urban Development Zurich in shifts.
Lively participation and great interest
The discussion was committed and constructive over all three days. The participants launched a total of 337 discussions, which comprised an average of six contributions. The 1996 papers resulted in a text volume of around 660 A4 pages.
People from 216 Swiss municipalities took part in the debate. Three-quarters of the participants came from the city of Zurich, 14 percent from the canton of Zurich and 8 percent from the rest of Switzerland.
under-18s were under-represented, and only about a third were women. The majority of the participants had a high level of education (two-thirds with a university degree) and the vast majority had Swiss citizenship (90%)
The evaluation report on the online city debate contains further details and statistics.
The online city debate, which was carried out as a pilot project, also attracted national attention from other cities in Switzerland and neighbouring countries, as well as from universities and interested experts. For example, Stadtentwicklung Zürich presented the online city debate at the InfoSocietyDays 2012 in Bern.
Statement on intensively discussed topics
An announced component of the online city debate as a pilot project is that the city of Zurich will comment on the most intensively discussed topics.
Due to the topics discussed, the city sees itself fundamentally strengthened and confirmed in its actions in many areas. Ongoing projects and planned plans of the City of Zurich are already addressing the challenges addressed in the debate. For some of the ideas and aspects discussed, the scope for action is limited to the urban level.
The host directors, in cooperation with the municipal service departments involved, have drawn up statements on the most intensively discussed topics.
The comments are summarised in the evaluation report starting on page 38.
Evaluation report The
evaluation report
includes a quantitative and a qualitative evaluation as well as the statements of the City of Zurich too intensive discussed topics of the online city debate.
In addition, the findings on the medium of the virtual discussion forum, which is new to the city of Zurich, are recorded.
Findings and outlook
Based on the
considerable and positive response to the online city debate, the City of Zurich draws the conclusion that there is a proven interest of the population in an online exchange on questions of urban development. The city therefore considers it useful to include online forms of exchange and dialogue in future projects and processes for urban and neighbourhood development.
Depending on the type and orientation of the projects, different forms are conceivable:
Large online urban debates such as the one held in September are suitable for mood paintings, for example in drafts of city-wide strategies.
In addition to the informal participation procedures for specific local projects, which have already been carried out and tested many times, the possibilities of virtual participation (eParticipation) are to be explored in the future.
population on published municipal reports and studies or on current, clearly defined issues and topics, the exchange can be intensified with temporarily open online dialogue and feedback platforms (web forum).
The City of Zurich will
be happy to provide interested parties with information on future online exchange projects. About the Online City Debate The online city debate on Zurich's urban development was conducted as part of the current legislative focus "Shaping the city and neighborhoods together" in the sense of an experiment.
In addition to raising awareness of the
complexity of the topic by providing a discussion platform and suggestions for content, the city also aimed to gain insights into new forms of communication and participation.
The Department of Urban Development Zurich was commissioned with the implementation and evaluation of the online city debate.
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