Participatory budget of Wrocław as an
element of Smart City 3.0 concept
Dorota Bednarska-Olejniczak Jarosław Olejniczak, PhD
Department of Marketing Management Department of Finance
Wrocław University of Economics, Poland
Aim and method of presented
research:
• The main goal of presented article is targeted at the
analysis of participatory budget (WBO) evolution in
the city of Wrocław in the context of this process
being incorporated within the concept of Smart City.
• The effect of research ought to be the possibility of
indicating the directions and conditions of changes in
WBO, as well as the significance of WBO for the
concept of Smart City implemented in Wrocław.
Aim and method of presented research:
• The research included:
- principles of social consultations realized by Wrocław in
the years 2013-2016.
- results of voting in the individual conditions of WBO in
terms of the number of voters and the structure of the
selected projects.
- An analysis of information concerning WBO and the
"Smart City Wrocław" project presented on internet
websites of the city as well as in strategy and
programming documents signed by the City Council.
- literature research concerning the concept of
participatory budget and the Smart City concept in order
to define their basic areas and features.
The place of participatory budget
within the Smart City budget
„Smarty city“ is a board concept for urban development strategies
involving multiple policy areas, cross-sectional business fields, and
collaboration between different agents (Deloitte, 2015).
They are most frequently identified as one of a tech-driven provider
approach [Smart Cities 1.0], or a city driven, technology enabled
model [Smart Cities 2.0].
In the past year, a new model started to appear - smart cities are
beginning to embrace citizen co-creation models, creating the next
generation of Smart Cities 3.0 (Cohen, 2015).
"the concept of the smart city departs beyond the narrow
understanding of growth based solely on ICT technologies,
reducing at the same time the pressure placed on technological
advancement" (Szczech-Pietkiewicz, 2015).
Six dimensions comprising the concept of a
smart city (Stawasz et al., 2012)
• economy (smart economy)- cities ought to demonstrate high productivity,
innovation climate and flexibility of labour market,
• transport and communication (smart mobility)- thanks to ITC sector the city is a
network of connections, connecting all city resources with large speed,
• environment (smart environment)-smart city optimizes the use of energy, among
others, through the use of renewable energy sources,
• people (smart citizen)- initiators of changes in the cities ought to be their citizens
who, with an adequate technical support, are able to prevent excessive use of
energy, pollution of environment
• quality of living (smart living)- smart city ensures a friendly environment to its
inhabitants, especially through making public services, technical and social
infrastructure more accessible,
• smart management (smart governance)- growth in this aspect requires the
creation of the right system of city management-establishing the procedures which
require cooperation of local authorities and the remaining users of the city as well
as using modern technologies in the functioning of the city.
Dimensions of smart city concept
SMART CITY
smart
governance
smart living
smart people
smart
environment
smart
mobility
smart
economy
It seems thus, that
the participatory
budget may be the
component of the
area of smart
governance - as an
improvement of
city management
and smart citizens
as the element of
stimulating citizen
activities.
Participatory budget and Smart City Wrocław
Participation of the citizens in creating the participatory
budget is incorporated into the concept of Smart City
3.0 even in the situation when social consultations are
not based for the most part on the use of information
technology.
In case of Wrocław - as one of the model Smart Cities in
Poland (Smart City, 2016) - the evolution of
participatory budget is related to the use of
information gathered during consultation processes,
concerning the spheres of quality of living of the
citizens.
Cyclicality of the process of
participatory based budget
Elaboration of
principles of
process course
Elaboration and
submission of
project
proposals
Discussion
on projects
Verification
of projects
Selection of
projects for
realization
Evaluation
of the
process
Ongoing
information
action and
monitoring
The above scheme was implemented in Wrocław in the years 2013-2016 which resulted in
the successive changes in the construction of the participatory budget.
Selected changes in the principles of creating the
participatory budget in Wrocław in the years 2013-2016
2013 2014 2015 2016
Pool of funds PLN 3,000,000 20,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000
Restriction on
project value PLN
500,000 Up to 100,000
Up to 500,000
Up to 1,500,000
Up to 150,000
Up to 500,000
Up to 1,500,000
Up to 250,000
Up to 750,000
Up to 1,500,000
Entities authorized
for submission of
applications
groups of
inhabitants
non-
governmental
organizations
leaders leaders leaders
Number of votes
possible to be used
per 1 inhabitant
5 3 3 (one for each
cost threshold)
4 including one
per project of
lower thresholds
Territorial area of
voting
Entire city Entire city Entire city Regions and entire
city
Minimum number of
votes per project
none none 100 100
Summary
In case of Wrocław, the foundations of this idea are the actions realized in the scope
of (Smart City, 2016):
a) natural environment (Low Carbon Economy Plan, improvement of energy
efficiency),
b) transportation (integrated transport systems, inter-modal transport, iMPK
application),
c) infrastructure (city monitoring system, public telecommunication network, smart
lighting, smart electricity networks-smart grids),
d) smart governance (social participation, open data-including, among others, the
possibility of submitting applications to the participatory budget and the
selection of the best ideas on line, Online Documentation Management),
e) people (social participation- including WBO, Social Labs, The Wrocław Blogs),
f) education (eg. Intgrated Management System of Wrocław Education), g) lifestyle
(application of new technologies for improving the quality and lifestyle of the
inhabitants as well as the living conditions in Wrocław),
h) economics (open data- inspiring and facilitating the entrepreneurship, platform of
start ups data base-PLIP- Information-Payment Platform of Wrocław).
Summary
As it is visible within the conducted analysis, WBO is not just
an element of actions in the scope of social participation,
but it is also a uniquely important area of actions which
contribute to the shaping of Smart City 3.0.
Its form is subject to constant improvement thanks to
efficient communication of the authorities and the
inhabitants by means of a number of information channels
(including innovative ones) and the analysis of the obtained
through this information.