Voting Among Neighbours: E-House Service Launched in Moscow

Have you always thought that your shared staircase should serve as a private art gallery? Or are you dreaming of organizing free yoga classes in the house yard? Or does Steve from next door never clean up after his dog? If you live in Moscow you can now initiate a discussion of your ideas about the neighborhood you live in through the new E-House online service.

The E-house service, which has been launched on the Active Citizen platform, greatly simplifies communication between neighbors. The idea of creating a service to bring together apartment owners was proposed by Muscovites themselves and confirms that in its development of smart city technologies Moscow has a real focus on community. And in this case, it is a community of understanding and mutual respect.

Initially, the service was designed to move endless questionnaires, surveys, and notifications online as a way of saving time for Muscovites, so that people would be able to take important decisions while calmly sipping their coffee in a cafe. And Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin supported the idea.

The security of the service is provided by the Active Citizen website’s blockchain technology — a system designed to encrypt and store information where the data cannot be changed. This means it will be impossible to forge signatures or add the required number of For or Against votes during public voting. So even Russian hackers won’t be able to destroy the system :)

What are the functions of E-House?

The main benefit of the new service is that it saves time by collecting and counting opinions. The voting is carried out via Active Citizen, where only a personal account and a PC or smartphone are required. There is no ballot box.

Residents can use E-House to conduct various surveys (for example, deciding whether CCTV cameras in elevators are necessary) among themselves, owners and lenders, as well as to receive information about ongoing surveys and changes in their buildings via apps, email or text messages. The format will enable homeowner meetings, so the process will become much simpler.

How does it work?

An application must be filed to launch a survey or notification. If it is approved, interested users will receive the information within seven days. A user then only needs to open the file and choose the answer he or she likes to take part in the survey. Users can also assess the publication (by pressing “Like” or “Dislike” buttons) and write a comment (which will be seen by the survey’s author).