Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds Citizen engagement allows members of the public to actively take part in decision-making in their local areas. Hi, my name is Sarah Sinclair. I’m a senior lecturer at the RMIT College of Business and Law. And I really look forward and welcome you to this course where we’re going to explore the participatory society and how we can incorporate some really new, interesting, innovative thinking that’s happening, such as the New European Bauhaus. So citizen participation is a really important way of local citizens engaging in their development of their local areas. Urban centers are changing constantly.
Skip to 0 minutes and 47 seconds We had experienced social change, we experience cultural change, we experience economic change, and all of these are going to impact the way that citizens and people in general interact with their cities. Urban planners are not just about building cities and creating cities but about creating lifestyles. And what we’ve observed recently is that people’s way of interacting with their urban centers has changed. We’re working from home and engaging in new practices and ways in which we engage with their cities and urban centers. There’s been a confluence of rapid digitalization and technology, which has fundamentally is going to change the way that our cities operate. And coupled with this we have challenges around sustainability.
Skip to 1 minute and 37 seconds How do we maximize and incorporate the best minds, the multiple perspectives that exist in terms of our citizens, and incorporate them into the decision-making process that’s going to affect their interaction with their cities? We want to explore how we foster good, strong citizen engagement that has creates meaningful outcomes. Thank you for taking this course. And my colleagues and I– Alexia and Romain– look forward to guiding you through this learning journey, where we will explore citizen participation models but develop ones that are going to have real impact and real contributions to developing strong, sustainable, beautiful, inclusive urban spaces.
