Presentation at the Community Indicators Consortium Impact Summit 2013. PlaceSpeak has emerged as a consultation tool at a time when traditional methods of public engagement are becoming contentious, expensive and unreliable. Because it builds up a user base of citizens interested in particular topics and/or particular geographic areas, PlaceSpeak has the potential to establish continuing interactive relationships between citizens and their local governments in a way that is convenient and respects privacy. Examples of practical applications will be provided in the presentation.

1. What Kind of City do the People
Want? Bringing Opinion Research
into the Digital Age
Ken Cameron FCIP
Adjunct Professor of Urban Studies
Simon Fraser University
Director, PlaceSpeak Inc.

2. Outline
• Planning for livability in the Vancouver region
• Urban Futures Survey
• PlaceSpeak: A New Tool for Public
Consultation
• Conclusions

4. Key Elements in Planning for
Greater Vancouver
• Long-term commitment going back to 1940s
(with some interruptions)
• Vision-based: “Cities in a Sea of Green;” “The
Livable Region”
• Based on public participation and opinion
research: The Urban Futures Survey

5. Outline
• Planning for livability in the Vancouver region
• Urban Futures Survey
• PlaceSpeak: A New Tool for Public
Consultation
• Conclusions

6. Urban Futures Survey 1973, 1990,
2012
• Representative sample of metropolitan
region’s population
• Components
– Demographic, household, employment
– Statements – agree scale
– Issues and problems – ranked
– Regional plan priorities – ranking of five goals

7. Areas of Focus
•
•
•
•
•
•
Environment
Community life
Mobility
Built environment
Managing growth
Governance

8. Urban Futures Survey Impact on
Policy
• 1973 – personal
interviews
• 1990 – telephone
survey
• 2012 – online survey
using PlaceSpeak
• Livable Region Plan
proposals
• Creating Our Future
Vision and Livable
Region Strategic Plan
• Confirmation/ranking of
regional planning goals

9. Location of Urban Futures Survey
2012 Respondents

10. Ranking of Issues: 1973, 1990,
2012

11. Ranking of Challenges: 2012

12. Ranking of Regional Growth
Strategies

13. Outline
• Planning for livability in the Vancouver region
• Urban Futures Survey
• PlaceSpeak: A New Tool for Public
Consultation
• Conclusions

14. Why do we want effective citizen
engagement?
•
•
•
•
Political and public expectations
Certainty
Better decisions
Democracy

15. The old consultation system is broken
• Traditional forms of public consultation are
dysfunctional and ineffective: Public meetings,
Door knocking, Land line telephones.
• Online consultation to date has been anonymous
and “one-off;” it suffers from: Trolls, Gaming the
system, anecdotal Social Media.
• Online Consultation typically lacks verifiable
feedback data to inform evidence-based decisionmaking and public policy development.

16. Need for a new paradigm

17. Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
•
Time
Respect for privacy
Language
Complexity of issues
Interactivity/Iterativeness
Integrity of results

18. The potential of online engagement
•
•
•
•
•
•
Privacy
Convenience
Broader reach
Ability to present complex information
Neutrality/open-mindedness
Interactivity/Iterativeness

19. We’re all adults here (aren’t we?)
Malcolm Knowles, a pioneer in the study of adult
learning, observed that adults learn best when:
• They understand why something is important to
know or do
• They have the freedom to learn in their own way
• Learning is experiential
• The time is right for them to learn
• The process is positive and encouraging

20. A burgeoning/bewildering
array of tools

21. Case in Point: PlaceSpeak
Participants (citizens)
• Sign up with email
address
• Verify identity
• Identify topics of interest
(by area or by subject)
• Participate through
surveys, discussion
forums, etc.
Proponents (cities,
developers, utilities, etc.)
• Register and identify a
topic
• Determine who can
participate by area and/or
topic
• Choose consultation tools
• Engage with participants
and report outcomes

22. Integrity
• Participants’ privacy is protected
• Participants are informed of the purpose of a
consultation and can decide whether or not to
participate
• Proponents are screened
• No advertising
• Data is not sold

23. Example:
Lingyen Mountain Temple

25. Definition of consultation area

28. Example:
Aldergrove Community Centre

29. Definition of consultation area

31. Outline
• Planning for livability in the Vancouver region
• Urban Futures Survey
• PlaceSpeak: A New Tool for Public
Consultation
• Conclusions

32. Conclusions
• Citizen engagement is essential to a
successfully planned future
• Comprehensive opinion research can guide
engagement and policy making
• Online mechanisms offer vast potential to
enhance opinion research and broaden and
deepen engagement
• There is even the potential to transform the
relationship between citizen and government

33. What Kind of City do the People
Want? Bringing Opinion Research
into the Digital Age
Ken Cameron FCIP
kdcameron@kdcameron.com
www.placespeak.com
www.urbanfuturessurvey.com