Citizen Engagement

Two people walking with a dog, a dark map with yellow area and blue lines

Planners and residents rely on each other to meet the community's needs and shape its future. What occurs in a community is inherently geographically personal; everyone who lives in a place cares about that place. Transparency is not enough. Esri's GIS planning system provides an opportunity to elevate how planners think about, and take action on, civic engagement and inclusion. GIS can help answer questions such as "Where are people voicing concerns? What neighborhoods are at risk of falling behind? How can a connected resident act as a sensor to help governments better understand their neighborhoods? Mapping, spatial analytics, and focused citizen engagement tools provide the ability for planners to cultivate a partnership with their residents.

Inform the public about priority initiatives

Use ArcGIS to deliver maps, apps, and other content related to planning initiatives that meet residents' expectations. Provide a foundation that establishes a genuine partnership between the public and planning professionals.

Development projects map

Create a destination for initiatives

Use ArcGIS Hub to host documents, maps, images, ArcGIS StoryMaps, and other media in a focused manner. In one place, you can inform the public and allow residents to give project-specific feedback, which provides government agencies with the input they need to move forward or make changes.

Maps showing poverty and urban stress in Tucson

Post notifications and monitor opinions

Planning departments are still tasked with legal requirements to notify the public about rezoning petitions, annexations, variances, and other changes to the planning code. ArcGIS has apps that meet this need and give the public a way to respond.

Survey about experiences with poverty and urban stress

Conduct project-focused public surveys

As GIS-based technology has evolved, so has the public's expectations of how they should be able to engage with their government. ArcGIS provides powerful, focused web and mobile apps that can be produced and deployed in a matter of minutes to garner immediate feedback from the public.

Maps and graphs

Support charette activities

ArcGIS provides a suite of applications to support land-use charettes of all sizes. These activities help create a stronger sense of buy-in from the public and allow decision-makers to quickly understand and visualize the kind of community residents want.

Dashboard view with maps, bar graphs, and pie chart

CASE STUDY

Improved transparency in the City of Cibolo

Cibolo, Texas, uses GIS to tell the public about new businesses, road construction projects, stormwater drainage, and how to access site plans.

Read the case study

Products and solutions for citizen engagement

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