Knowledge centre for neighbourhoods and citizen engagement

The municipality of Waalwijk uses neighbourhood communication and citizen participation to create attractive neighbourhoods. In this article, we share five examples of how the municipality is using Hoplr to keep the neighbourhoods of Waalwijk beautiful and clean.

City councils, too, faced some difficult challenges during the corona crisis. The council of Opwijk looks for answers to these challenges in function of, and even supported by the local community. Information management coordinator at Opwijk council, Caroline Verschueren, elaborates.

Citizen participation comes in all shapes and sizes. It simply means: inviting citizens to help shape society. With Hoplr, the city of Halle offers its citizens both a communication line for dialogue and a platform for initiatives, climbing all steps of the participation ladder. In this case study, we’ll demonstrate how the City of Halle takes various initiatives to engage its citizens.

In 6 months time, over 4,100 households (12%) have registered in the 10 neighbourhoods that were selected for the Hoplr pilot in The Hague. Neighbours post an average of 100 messages and 730 comments per week, counting for a total of 66,000 interactions. 72% of the registered households visit Hoplr at least once per week.

Hoplr made its debut in the Venice of the North at the end of 2018: a pilot project in collaboration with the City of Bruges. 14 neighbourhoods are activated – which accounts for some 3,500 registered households, more than 5,000 messages and 45,000 responses. But what’s most noteworthy after a couple of months of Hoplr in Bruges? The engagement among citizens.

Olen was one of the very first municipalities to get started with our Service Dashboard, back in 2017. Their goal was to connect citizens, and enhance the local community feeling. Today, well over a third of all households are registered on Hoplr, and the municipality has become an expert in using the platform for relevant citizen communication.

Inhabitants of Sint-Katelijne-Waver were asked nine questions on Hoplr in July 2019. The questions covered various topics such as mobility, housing and environment. The project was an overwhelming success: 1,657 registered households cast a total of 2,207 votes and posted 190 additional comments. A total of about 5,600 households live in the municipality of Sint-Katelijne-Waver.

At the beginning of this year, the brand-new board of Boechout presented its new policy note to the city council. At least, a first version. The municipality gave its residents the opportunity to help shape the final policy note on the basis of 10 statements. Hoplr is community-driven and stimulates citizen engagement, making the online neighbourhood network an ideal platform for citizen participation.

Mechelen, such a great city. The authentic setting, filled with culture, friendly people, picturesque squares, … But what makes it such an amazing place to us? It was the very first city to help build Hoplr’s future! Summer of 2016: a first contact with the department of Neighbourhood and Village Affairs is made. From the very start, it was clear to us that the City of Mechelen considers neighbourhood communication to be extremely important. By the time autumn arrived, we had already kicked off with a Hoplr pilot project.

Roadworks happen all the time, but you have to admit, if you know about the detour beforehand, your week would start off a lot better. And that is why we believe it is essential that project developers communicate with the members of the neighbourhoods they operate in. In this article you will read why and how project developers such as the Flemish Government Agency for roads and traffic, Strabag, Revive, Cores development and Noorderlijn use Hoplr.