Why cities matter: an interview with OpenCitiz Founder Fanny Brûlebois
When Civocracy’s Co-founder Chloe Pahud met Fanny Brûlebois, the Co-founder of OpenCitiz, she was blown away by their mission to help city governments build a coherent SmartCity strategy for the benefit of their citizens.
Over coffee, it became apparent we both passionately agreed: local democracy matters.
So often, SmartCity organisations fail to realise the extent to which local politics and policymakers matter for the success of their businesses. Citizens want change now, and can’t understand why government processes take so long when the technology already exists. While on the other hand, governments want to modernise and become more transparent, but they don’t understand how to do so.
OpenCitiz, a French consultancy specialised in politics and public policy, is on a mission to empower policymakers with the technology and skills they need to harness the power of SmartCity technology, so these policymakers can better serve the citizens and businesses in their communities.
Fanny brought an interesting and unique perspective to the conversation, as she has worked as both a consultant for national government and as an elected local official.
The takeaway from our talk? Engaging with government is essential for developing innovative and future-proof communities.
Following our coffee, we reconnected to discuss OpenCitiz’s Smart Territories Guide (Le Guide Des Territoires Intelligents), which is a comprehensive manual for public servants working in local authorities. It aims to teach governments the benefits of, and how to implement, SmartCity projects, as well as showcasing the range of innovative technology that already exists (we’re thrilled to be included).
We were keen to learn more about Fanny’s perspective on SmartCity technologies, especially in regards to CivicTech, and the ways in which these technologies impact both communities and those in government.
Why did you create the Smart Territories Guide?
We launched the Smart Territories Guide for three reasons:
1. Through our years of experience working with local authorities, we realised that civil servants lack the knowledge and tools required to understand recent technological developments. On top of this, there tends to be a lack of understanding of the ways in which SmartCity technologies can be utilised to improve their daily ways of working. We know that many SmartCity solutions have been created by companies in the areas of public lighting, mobility, transparency of public action, the management of urban facilities, and citizen participation, for example.
2. Local authorities want to benefit from these new solutions, and desire a better overview in regards to knowing exactly what is available on the market. We have therefore structured the guide to showcase solutions by theme, and feedback on this has been excellent!
3. We noted that there is a need for public-sector workers to understand not only what new solutions are available, but also how to implement them successfully. It therefore seemed essential for us to offer community methodological benchmarks, and examples of SmartCity project implementation best practices.
What importance do CivicTech solutions have in the development of SmartCity strategies?
More and more local authorities in France are opting to co-create SmartCity strategies with their citizens, and they want to involve their communities in this process from the very beginning. While CivicTech tools do not replace in-person consultations (neighbourhood meetings, workshops, forums, etc.), they do make it possible to reach a wider audience, and to process responses and contributions more efficiently and effectively. Additionally, CivicTech solutions also make it possible to provide information and updates to citizens more easily, and ensure more structured communications in relation to SmartCity projects.
What do you think is the impact of citizen participation initiatives on the success of SmartCity projects?
While no studies have provided quantified answers, we do note that in terms of diagnosis and analysis of project creation and implementation, citizen participation approaches feed very strongly and qualitatively into community projects. We clearly see that the community’s expectations and needs are better understood, and therefore can be met by the public administrations (as opposed to projects carried out in isolation by the municipality).
In your opinion, what are the major challenges facing CivicTech?
The consultation and co-construction of projects with users is sometimes frightening. This is for several reasons, but two key ones are fear that there will be too little participation, and fear that there will be too much protest. In our opinion, the main issue preventing the uptake of digital citizen participation is the lack of understanding of the potential of the technology by elected officials and community agents. The value of implementing such an approach far outweighs the risks, which are relatively minor.
And finally, why do you think collaboration between private-sector groups, startups and governments is important?
In the SmartCity field, collaboration between private actors and local authorities is essential, indeed it is one of the main conditions for success. As for startups, they provide innovative solutions and a state of mind that make it possible to respond to challenges in the most impactful and effective ways.
OpenCitiz is a strategy consulting firm specializing in territorial innovation and intelligent territories. Based in Paris, OpenCitiz’s teams work in France and abroad with public and private actors.
Civocracy is a CivicTech startup focused on implementing digital citizen participation projects in local communities.
