Photo: How-Buenos-Aires-uses-crowdsourcing

How Buenos Aires uses crowdsourcing to drive innovation

30 August 2015

by Nick Michell

Adam Pitt explores how a series of roundtables and citizen engagements in Buenos Aires has been transforming the way the city fosters innovation and better governance

In 2013, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires led by Mayor Mauricio Macri launched a new initiative aimed at creating a city that its 3.5 million people could be proud of–a modern, innovative metropolitan district characterised by inclusive public services and a common purpose.

Like other municipal governments in search of sustainable development in Latin America, the initiative entitled ‘Collaborative Roundtables for Innovation and Creativity’, emerged in response to the challenges posed by accelerated population growth, reliance on central funding, and a refreshing willingness to recognise its own shortcomings.

The roundtables with citizens are designed to tap into the city administration’s desire to take advantage of modern infrastructure, advanced technologies, and social innovation to regenerate the traditionally poorer southern areas of the city. Importantly, the roundtables are not owned or operated by any one ministry or government body, though different departments of city government do the actual implementation once roundtable endorsement and support has been gained. This gives its members the freedom and opportunity to think creatively and develop ideas outside of their usual remit and portfolios.

“Prior to this point in time, initiatives concerning innovation were mostly isolated, as a result of the compartmentalised structure adopted by the government,” says Enrique Avogadro, the city government’s Undersecretary for the Creative Economy. “The corresponding lack of coordination among public policies had failed to deliver the promised success or desired level of innovation. So we set about answering the question: how can the city promote innovation in order to foster urban growth, improve the quality of public services and, primarily, improve citizens’ quality of life?”

Enrique Avogadro, Undersecretary for the Creative Economy, Buenos Aires City
Enrique Avogadro, Undersecretary for the Creative Economy, Buenos Aires City

Avogadro has been one of the main advocates for the collaborative roundtables and guided the programme through some early challenges to create an opportunity for senior leaders to discuss and prioritise the city’s needs. Through weekly meetings, a plan of action was created focusing on five main areas of intervention: education for the 21st century, entrepreneurs and creative ecosystems, innovating for inclusion, creating an intelligent city, and international positioning.

The City of Ideas

One of the most inspirational projects to emerge from the roundtables is the ‘City of Ideas’, a crowdsourcing platform that enables citizens to contribute their ideas on how to improve the city. In the trial phase of this project, more than 5,000 taxi drivers generated 1,000 ideas on improving mobility, with a further 300 ideas provided by students on the topic of how to modernise the city. In addition, an eight-hour online forum brought 500 registered users together to discuss sustainability, 150 residents in separate communes engaged in a conversation on coexistence, and 800 ideas have also been generated through an interactive wall open to the public in the city’s Museum of Architecture.

Another interesting project to come from roundtable discussions is the ‘Nanocentre’. This project aims at developing the Parque Patricios, a poorer and less developed neighbourhood surrounding the City Hall and city government offices, into a hub for innovation and experimentation, by promoting new technologies that address everyday issues. There are public gyms and exercise apparatus which use human energy to power chargers for electronic items like cell phones; bicycle lanes which link the new City Hall with another new and large city government building in Parque Lezema; automatic bike-share stations are open around the clock; and new smart city LED lighting is replacing traditional sodium lamps to improve energy efficiency and enhance public safety in the area.

As an area earmarked by the current administration for urban regeneration, further initiatives are planned for the Parque Patricios community, including haptic maps developed in 3D for blind and partially- sighted people, more street-side green areas and traffic calming devices, sensors for measuring noise, humidity and contamination, the double-glazing of school windows, and a full impact analysis of the new City Hall on noise, traffic, and pollution.

Other noteworthy projects include a Schools of the Future programme aimed at introducing technology such as 3D printing, robotics, and programming to public schools, and a Finish High School scheme that offers the seven million Argentinians nationwide who have not completed high school the opportunity to do so for free via an online learning application.

“The Collaborative Roundtable for Innovation and Creativity is by its very nature a revolutionary initiative, and one that is genuinely moving the city of Buenos Aires closer towards its ambition of being a global hub for innovation,” says Andrés Ibarra, the city’s Minister for Modernisation. “A big part of our success has come from improving access to technological and entrepreneurial education, as well as engaging both government and public audiences, and it is important for us to keep building on this momentum.”

Andrés Ibarra, Minister for Modernisation, Buenos Aires City
Andrés Ibarra, Minister for Modernisation, Buenos Aires City

Ibarra explains that the roundtables have increasingly recognised the importance of closing the digital gap, and that extending free Wi-Fi networks throughout less affluent districts has been identified as a priority.

“Free access to the Internet is a great economic leveller that is capable of  transcending space and time as it offers everyone, especially the most vulnerable, an opportunity to improve their personal circumstances,” he adds.

In a city where GDP per capita has reached US$23,600–similar to averages in Sendai, Japan, and Shenzhen, China– urban poverty remains a challenge, and while it is not unique, providing Internet access to the poor may yet prove to be the key to unleashing the full entrepreneurial potential of Latin America’s third-largest economy.

In communities like Villa Lugano in the southwestern corner of Buenos  Aires, where the wide Avenida Fernández de la Cruz divides middle-class shopping centres and exclusive golf courses from informal housing settlements, access to online services and the Internet can help break down the urban divide for those on unstable incomes and with low levels of participation in political processes.

The winners of the Guangzhou International Awards for Urban Innovation were announced in November 2014, and while Buenos Aires narrowly missed out on a spot among the five winners, Ibarra believes the city’s government and people can continue moving forward with their heads held high, safe in the knowledge that their hard work is starting to receive the international recognition that it deserves.

“Through initiatives like the collaborative roundtables, we hope to become a model of innovation that other cities in the region and around the world can follow,” says Ibarra. “Being shortlisted for a Guangzhou Award is a tremendous accomplishment for the municipal government and for the people of this city, especially when you look at some of the cities and projects that made it through to the final round. But ultimately it is not awards that define our success, we will be judged on how we change lives.”

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