Priorities and activities

Wer | denkt | was GmbH is a spin-off of the Technical University of Darmstadt, which specializes in cross-media citizen participation and digital concern management. Thanks to the extensive know-how of an interdisciplinary team, participation projects are also implemented for small and medium-sized municipalities in the form of web-based platforms and apps. Here, wer | denkt | was GmbH offers advice, conception, programming and implementation from a single source. Wer | denkt | was GmbH supports a wide range of digital processes:

• the nationwide and free portal www.mängelmelder.de
• individualized customer systems in concern and complaint management
• digital citizen participation processes such as participatory budgets
• map-based discussions for spatial planning processes
• Citizen survey / citizen panel
• Mayor's office hours
• Commentary on guidelines and project lists
• CityApps with integrated interfaces to existing systems

Reference "Defect Detector"

• With "GE reports", the city of Gelsenkirchen offers its citizens the opportunity to conveniently report concerns and information to the city administration. GE-reports is also available as an app and has a connection to administrative ticket systems.
• Since the beginning of 2015, the city of Mannheim has also had an individualized defect detector from wer | denkt | was GmbH. Citizens' concerns are managed via the 115 service center. External organizations can be granted one-time access to the system for processing a defect report or complaint for the duration of the processing time. http: //mannheim.mängelmelder.de/
• The city of Friedrichshafen and the regional council of Bodenseekreis have a common concern portal with “tell it”, which is also connected to the 115 service center. In addition, “tell it” has its own apps. In addition to diverse, individualized categories, a voting function is integrated into the application, with which the concerns expressed by citizens can be assessed. https://sags-doch.de/bms#pageid=1

Reference participatory budgets

• The science city of Darmstadt is carrying out a participatory budget for the sixth time in a row in 2017, which it is continuously developing together with wer | denkt | was GmbH. A special feature here is the close integration of analog and digital participation options and the provision of content in easy language. https://da-bei.darmstadt.de/
• In Monheim am Rhein, citizens have been able to participate annually in the preparation of the municipal household online since 2012. In particular, the investments and highlights that the city will discontinue are the subject of lively discussion. https://www.monheim.de/index.php?id=5301

Reference card-based participation

• With the help of crowd mapping, the asparagus city of Lampertheim integrates its citizens into the planned urban redevelopment on the “Sag's doch mol” platform. On an interactive map on which the area to be designed is highlighted, suggestions and suggestions can be noted using a marker. Crowdmapping is the first part of a process that will take several months to transform the inner city in an attractive way. https://sags-doch-mol.de/page/stadtumbau
• In the spring of 2016, the city of Friedrichshafen gave residents the opportunity to submit contributions to the “Noise Action Plan Level 2” on its “say it” platform via a card-based online participation. During the participation phase, users could select a location on the map and participate with their contributions, indicating the source of the interference, the type of noise and the desired measures. The determined noise values for different types of noise for day and night can be shown and hidden on the map to provide citizens with information. https://sags-doch.de/discuss/lap

Reference project list

• Since the beginning of 2017, the city of Konstanz has been supplementing its public participation offer with a list of projects. Project profiles compiled by the city as well as the respective possibility of online participations are arranged according to city districts. http://konstanz-mitgestalten.de/topic/vorhabenliste
• Since 2015, the science city of Darmstadt has been informing its citizens with a list of projects about planning and projects in the city. Here, projects are integrated in which your participation can be carried out. The list of projects implements a crucial point of the jointly developed "Guidelines for Citizen Participation". https://da-bei.darmstadt.de/topic/vorhabenliste
  

Reference citizen survey

• A change of timetable in the summer of 2016 caused controversial discussions in the city of Pfungstadt. The city took the concerns and complaints of its citizens seriously and launched an online citizens' survey on the use of public transport. In addition to frequently used routes and general usage habits, the survey also gave the opportunity to express wishes in the design of public transport. http://buergerbeteiligung.pfungstadt.de/
• Wer | denkt | was GmbH asked the citizens about their general satisfaction and interests on paper as well as online on behalf of the asparagus town of Lampertheim. There were social, political and economic focal points. The representative citizen panel started with the survey in 2015, so that in future the survey should be repeated every two to three years. https://sags-doch-mol.de/page/buergerbefragung2015
• At the start of the Integrated Urban Development Concept (ISEK) of the City of Friedrichshafen, citizens were able to participate in an online survey on the platform "tell it". The main topics were, for example, quality of life and living in Friedrichshafen. The citizens' survey forms the basis for the development of an ISEK for the next 15 years. https://sags-doch.de/discuss/isek
  

Best practice example: Darmstadt community budget
Since 2012, the city of science Darmstadt has been carrying out its community budget with wer | denkt | was GmbH in close cooperation. The procedure has been evaluated several times and optimized in cooperation with citizens. Wer | denkt | was GmbH conceives the procedure together with the city ombudsman and takes over the technical implementation, the moderation as well as the process support and advice. In 2016, the participatory budget was carried out for the fifth time. A focus was placed on the districts and quarters as an immediate everyday and living space, in that all ideas and suggestions were assigned to the respective districts and were accessible via a district map. Another focus was on the various options for submitting ideas on site and coordinating existing suggestions. For example, the top 3 ideas for each district and for the city as a whole were determined separately in an online and offline vote. All Top3 ideas were literally mapped in their own magistrate templates and politically advised.
As in previous years, information on the individual product areas and the procedure as well as the budget was provided on the citizen participation portal of the city of science Darmstadt ( www.da-bei.darmstadt.de ). A flyer, the press and advertisements on buses and trains were used to draw attention to the participatory budget. As every year, the open household implemented by wer | denkt | was GmbH provided a very convenient and quick introduction to the topic.
Best practice example: Friedrichshafen noise action plan
Noise action plans are generally used to regulate noise effects and problems, they define goals, strategies and measures to reduce noise pollution. However, the subjective noise perception of those affected often deviates from the measured or statistically determined noise levels. Therefore, the city of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance decided to involve its citizens directly in its noise action plan level 2 and to have a say - so that not only the determined parameters, but also the people spoke.
The active involvement of the citizens via an interactive mapping of the noise action plan level 2 took place on the online platform “say it” ( www.sags-doch.de ). At the center of the participation process was an interactive map that provided information and planned measures for individual noise points, but also made contributions and comments possible. Various noise maps (day / night, rail noise / street noise) could be shown there. By clicking on an affected area, the measures already implemented and planned were displayed. During the participation phase from February 26 to March 31, 2016, users were able to select a location on the map and participate with their contributions, indicating the source of the interference, the type of noise and the desired measures. Posts already published were visible to all visitors to the platform and could also be commented on.
In addition to the participation on the map, users were also able to post in the forum “Seen elsewhere: best practice” - a way of presenting good ideas from other municipalities and countries that might also be conceivable in Friedrichshafen to reduce noise. The second forum offered space for "praise and criticism" with the aim of collecting suggestions for improvements to the platform and the process.
Another special feature of the procedure was that contributions received by letter, e-mail, telephone or via the general citizen information system “say it” were integrated into the platform. Citizens who are not active online were also able to participate.