Mauritius’s government deployed the country’s first extensive online public consultation process to learn how citizens perceive the capital and its future. With this community engagement process, the government aimed at supporting existing urban regeneration projects in Port Louis and ensuring the social sustainability of these urban development programs.
Ensuring Outreach of Online Public Consultation
The State Land Development Company and Syntheses Mauritius took on the task and designed a broad public engagement campaign that used, for example, face-to-face meetings, social media, videos, and radio to begin a discussion with residents. The most important part of their campaign to generate and collect resident input was the launch of a Maptionnaire survey for people to map their own Port Louis.
Using Maptionnaire, residents had the chance to define their favorite places in the city, areas that need improvement, and their wishes about urban change over the coming years. Asking questions on a map made it possible for the public to answer precisely and, at the same time, planners received easily sensible insight using Maptionnaire’s analytic capabilities. In this article, you can learn more about the value of map-based surveys for engagement projects.
The Results of the Public Consultation Process
Almost 6,000 residents shared their vision during the public consultation campaign and the results will be used to guide Port Louis’s upcoming urban regeneration projects.
“The opinion of citizens is essential to the social development of the community, but this was very vague in Mauritius.” explains Victor Genestar. “The My Port Louis questionnaire was a great solution to it. Every citizen had a say in the questionnaire!”
The survey results can be accessed through this link, the file is in English. If your city or local government also looks for a online public consultation solution, this article will help you choose the right citizen engagement software that fits your requirements.
Want to learn more? Check out how St Andrews used Maptionnaire for running a map-based public consultation to understand mobility preferences and barriers of its residents. The project aims at making the city suitable for wheeling, cycling, and walking and promoting active travel solutions.
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