[open-development] 9 Lessons Learned about how to Bridge the Gap between Cites and Citizens

[Bjorn-Soren Gigler]

Dear colleagues and friends,

I thought you would blog on 9 Lessons on how to Bridge the Gap between Cities and Citizens.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/governance/nine-lessons-bridging-gap-between-cities-and-citizens


*        What is the impact of open government approaches to improving public services to poor communities?


*        What are some examples of where the emerging Open Government approach has made a difference in the lives of the urban poor?



*        How can we leverage open data and innovative uses of technology to empower citizens to better hold government and donors accountable?


Please let me know your comments and suggestions on how we can move this important agenda of citizen-centered governance forward.

many thanks,
best wishes,

Soren

Bjorn-Soren Gigler
Senior Governance Specialist
Governance and Inclusive Institutions
The World Bank Group

twitter: @bgigler



From: open-development [mailto:open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of michael gurstein
Sent: Saturday, November 08, 2014 12:51 PM
To: open-development at lists.okfn.org
Subject: [open-development] FW: Blogpost: Smart Cities vs. Smart Communities: Enabling Markets or Empowering Citizens


http://gurstein.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/smart-cities-vs-smart-communities-enabling-markets-or-empowering-citizens/



Hmmm....



So "Smart Cities" particularly in Less Developed Countries are ways of turning urban environments into gold mines for consultants, hardware and software companies and redoing the city in the image and for the benefit of its most prosperous and well-serviced inhabitants and in the meantime transferring additional resources and benefits from the poor to the rich.



But another type of "Smart" program is possible-one that is focused on social inclusion, enabling citizens, supporting communities-a community informatics model.  This would be a smart program where the emphasis is on "Smart Communities" rather than "Smart Cities" and enabling and empowering citizens and supporting their individual and communal quests for well-being rather than turning cities into a series of cascading neo-liberalized markets-for services, for infrastructure, for shelter.
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