ºÚÁÏÍø

Title of the thesis: Inclusive city municipalities: Mapping of user groups to strengthen citizen participation. 

Thesis defender: Zarrin Fatima
Opponent: Prof. Brita Fladvad Nielsen, NTNU, Norway 
Custos: Prof. Risto Lahdelma, Aalto University School of Engineering

The thesis is based on the development of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) and how to address the challenge and requirement of Social Innovation and Citizen Participation. At the moment citizen engagement is done for the sake of engagement, often to tick a box and claim citizens were engaged. Very often citizens are not aware about the purpose and impact of their participation. The writer argues that Citizen Inclusion (i.e. mapping of the user groups such elderly, women or vulnerable groups) must precede the decision on the method of engagement to make the outcome stronger and more useful for both the municipality and citizens. Citizen inclusion should be considered as a precondition by the city before deciding an engagement method as this will eventually affect data collection and/or consensus reached.

The analysis is based on seven European cities and their readiness towards tackling the complexities of PEDs. Results show that having citizen engagement as part of local regulations or law certainly helps in creating a strong ground for civic activities, however, for many cities, urban development brings many bureaucratic and administrative barriers, and this pushes citizen engagement towards the side so that municipalities, that are already overwhelmed with PED complexities, do not have sufficient time and resources to plan engagement and thus resort to business-as-usual. The thesis proposes a three step framework that counteracts the business-as-usual case and addresses the Societal innovation and Citizen Participation component of PEDs: Step 0: Purpose of Engagement; Step 1: Who will i need for this challenge? (families, elderly, vulnerable groups etc.) and Step 2: How can I engage the people I need? (interviews, face-to-face dialogues etc.). The thesis also lists the different citizen groups to serve as a minimum point of reference for municipalities. Additional citizen groups can be added to the list depending on the local context. 

The solution provided by the author is an enabler to support municipalities (globally) in their energy transition journey while acknowledging the diversity of citizens and the diversity of their needs, that inevitably affects the acceptance of technological solutions and encourages sustainable lifestyles.
Key words: citizen; engagement; inclusion; urban development; diversity; users; vulnerable users 

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at . 

Contact information: zarrin.1.fatima@aalto.fi, www.linkedin.com/in/zarrinfatima