Imagine trying to build a new city park but only asking the people who already live next to it; you'd miss what everyone else needs. This project creates a toolkit to make sure everyone, especially ignored groups, has a real say in how society is run. It uses simulations and storytelling to test new ideas for voting and participation before they are actually implemented.
Organizations struggle to engage diverse populations in decision-making, often leading to policies that fail because they don't reflect the needs of vulnerable or digitally excluded groups.
A 'dialogue tool' for social simulation and a set of design fiction products including short films and stories to visualize democratic innovations.
If you are a platform provider dealing with low user engagement in digital voting — this project developed a 'dialogue tool' and social simulation that helps design more inclusive interaction processes. This allows you to build features that actually attract diverse groups of citizens.
If you are an agency dealing with complex public opposition to infrastructure projects — this project developed design fiction products like short films and stories to visualize future scenarios. You can use these methods to help clients communicate long-term visions to the public more effectively.
If you are a consultancy dealing with the 'wicked problems' of ecological crises in city planning — this project developed Democracy Labs to co-create solutions with 180 citizens. This provides a structured way to validate urban policies with a representative sample before spending budget on construction.
Based on available project data, the dialogue tool will be available online via the NetLogo platform and GitHub repository, suggesting an open-access model rather than a commercial price.
The project tests validity through a choice experiment survey across 5 European countries and interactive fora with 135 policymakers to check feasibility for implementation.
Based on available project data, the tools are intended for a Community of Practice with at least 80 organisations, and the dialogue tool is hosted on GitHub, implying open distribution.
The project produces policy roadmaps designed for the future of democracy spanning from 2030 to 2050.
The project provides a deliverable describing how to set up dialogue sessions, including intake, scenario production, and moderation principles.
The consortium is heavily academic, consisting of 6 universities and 3 research organizations across 9 countries. With only 1 SME and 0 industrial partners, the project is driven by social science and design research rather than commercial product development. This suggests the outputs are high-quality theoretical and methodological tools rather than off-the-shelf commercial software.
Contact FCIENCIAS.ID in Portugal for access to the GitHub repository and NetLogo tools.
Contact us to find the specific dialogue tool prototypes for your civic engagement project.
