|
Por Franc Trcek
Número 42
Abstract:
The article analyses the current state of informatization
of the residents of the City of Ljubljana and their readiness to
work and live in a Virtual Ljubljana. Special emphasis is placed
on their willingness to take advantage of the democratic potential
that the Internet offers as a means of active integration in the
political participation at the local city level.
It has been concluded that virtual
city democracies can also serve as a new platform for affirming
the legitimacy of spatial planning, facilitating communication between
the city administration and the manifest (self)organised groups
of people, the public and especially, the non-manifest and often
excluded and unidentified groups of residents. Yet at the current
level of informatization in the City of Ljubljana, this new area
of political participation remains an unused opportunity, even though
informationalized groups of residents have expressed the desire
to become an active part of the local virtual democracy. In the
particular example of the City of Ljubljana, the issue of the digital
divide remains unresolved, which is not surprising considering the
poor development of policies aimed at overcoming the informational
exclusion at the city level.
Introduction
Throughout history, forums for informal
communication have played a crucial role in the creation of public
opinion, thereby paving the way for the creation of contemporary
civil society. These physical spaces are now moving to cyberspace,
where people exchange opinions on pressing issues and thus create
public opinion that affects the formation and implementation of
policies on local and global levels. This has spurred the theoreticians
of democracy to start talking about the return to direct (only this
time “virtual”) Athens-style democracy.
In response, local authorities have
started constructing portals, “electronic city halls”,
which each week highlight a new topic of interest to residents,
presenting it in minute detail on the website. Residents can send
their opinions and commentaries, which can serve as a basis for
the acceptance and legitimacy of new decisions made by local authorities.
Such portals (Tambini, 1998) have been referred to as teledemocracy,
technopolitics, new media or electronic democracy. What all these
expressions have in common is that they suggest a new political
era of unlimited communication between citizens and the authorities.
The idea of electronic democracy has generally been ushered in by
promises of more democratic, accessible and open policies, where
politicians and citizens can work together. Oblak (2001) stresses
that the adjective “electronic” in this context refers
to the use and expansion of digital, computer and communication
technologies that support and enable the acquisition of new information
and the creation and use of various communication channels.
Taking these trends as a starting
point, the article analyses how well Ljubljana residents are currently
equipped with new information and communication technologies, and
how willing they are to work and live in the Virtual Ljubljana.
Most notably, I was interested in the extent to which people are
willing to take advantage of the democratic potential provided by
the Internet and – by using the new cyberspace for social
actions – participate actively in politics on the local city
level.
General conclusions that
- New information and telecommunication
technologies make it easier for people to conduct a dialogue with
city authorities in a way that makes them feel connected with, and
co-responsible for, the development of the society,
- The interactivity of new forms of telecommunication makes it possible
to increase the number of those participating in processes of democratic
decision-making,
- Intermediate levels that filter information are no longer required,
- Cyberspace is an excellent mechanism for discussions about new
development plans, are examined in this article using the example
of preparations for a new spatial plan for the City of Ljubljana.
It is assumed that virtual city democracies can also represent new
sources of legitimacy for spatial planning, provided there is mutual
communication between the city authorities and their various departments
and the manifestly (self)organised groups of people, different segments
of the public and especially, non-manifest and often excluded and
non-identified groups of residents.
The Internet as a New Source
of Legitimacy for Spatial Planning – Questionnaire Survey
Working together
with the Department of Spatial Planning of the City of Ljubljana,
we drafted a questionnaire for the first phase of the survey (a
telephone survey), designed to determine the current level of informatization
among Ljubljana residents, the reasons for the lack thereof and
the residents’ willingness to take an active part in discussions
on new spatial development plans unveiled by the City of Ljubljana.
The second phase of the project
Virtual Ljubljana: Political Participation and Overcoming the
Information Exclusion – Guidelines and Activities for Introducing
Local Virtual Democracy, was a telephone survey on opportunities
that cyberspace offers as a new platform for debates on development
and spatial-development policies. The survey focussed on three main
areas:
- The actual level of informatization
– determining how well city residents are equipped with new
information and telecommunication technologies;
- The degree to which residents are acquainted with the preparation
of a new spatial plan for the City of Ljubljana and their willingness
to participate in discussions on the new spatial plan;
- The residents’ interests in political participation and
the potential of using cyberspace to promote more active participation
in debates on the city’s development policies.
Below is the analysis of results
by individual areas and a final analysis with guidelines for further
planning of programmes for public participation in making spatial
development policies.
Information Technology Equipment
of the Residents of the City of Ljubljana
The analysis of how well residents are equipped with information
and telecommunication technologies (ICT), and the use of publicly
accessible information with the help of ICT, confirmed what similar
surveys conducted as part of the comprehensive Use of the Internet
in Slovenia study revealed: residents of Ljubljana are much
better informationalized than Slovenians overall.
Table 1: Information
technology equipment and the frequency of use of telecommunication
technologies among residents of Ljubljana
|
Daily |
Weekly |
Occasionally |
Do not have / Do not
use |
Have but do not use |
Mobile phone |
74.9% |
2.5% |
4.9% |
17% |
0.6% |
PC |
38.4% |
9.5% |
10.5% |
35.4% |
6.3% |
Laptop computer |
6.9% |
1.8% |
3.3% |
86.7% |
1.3% |
Internet |
26.5% |
7.9% |
9% |
51.7% |
4.9% |
Fax |
11.1% |
5.3% |
9.4% |
73.2% |
1% |
SMS INFO |
15.1% |
11.6% |
19.8% |
53.5% |
----- |
ATM |
14.4% |
50.1% |
20.3% |
15.2% |
0% |
Internet banking |
5.2% |
6.5% |
7.9% |
80.5% |
0% |
Public info terminals |
0.5% |
2.9% |
31.4% |
65.2% |
---- |
Internal info terminals
|
2.1% |
12.6% |
40.4% |
44.9% |
---- |
Teletext |
28.3% |
17.6% |
26.7% |
27.4% |
0% |
Only 17% of the respondents
do not have a mobile phone and merely 35.4% do not have a personal
computer in their household. Respondents were also questioned about
how frequently they use ICT that they own or that are available
at (semi)public places. Results are shown in the table above.
In addition to the daily use of mobile phones, the relatively high
daily use of personal computers and teletext is especially notable.
The results also suggest that information terminals have failed
to live up to their designated role, the most probable reason being
that the information they provide is often outdated, while terminals
also break down frequently (for example the one located on Mackova
Street). It is also interesting that almost 5% of those who have
Internet access do not use it.
The analysis of the
demographics of frequent users of ICT technologies and services
suggests that the digital divide is still a problem in the City
of Ljubljana. The division into informationalized and the informationally-excluded
persists, following the structural characteristics of marginalized
groups in urban areas, which are typical in other areas as well.
Those with higher education, younger people and two-thirds of men
are better informationalized. Even mobile telephony, which has the
highest penetration, is a telling example: women without a mobile
phone outnumber men two to one. The ratio is almost identical for
personal computers.
Most international
surveys examining the digital divide have pinpointed education as
the key structural characteristic that separates informationalized
and non-informationalized population groups. That education is the
decisive factor has also been proved by our survey: as much as 73.6
percent of the respondents with vocational education or less do
not have a personal computer. This share drops to 34.7 percent among
the group with secondary school education, while only 12.5 percent
of those with higher education do not have a personal computer in
their household. Only about a fourth (25.4%) of those with higher
education do not have Internet access, but the number soars to 87.3%
among those with poorer education (finished vocational school or
less).
The differences are
similar in the use of information services. As many as a third of
those with the lowest education, for example, do not even use automatic
teller machines. Internet banking is a service only used by those
with the highest education, but even here it is still poorly developed.
Results on the use of public information terminals confirm fears
that this is a “public service” which people indeed
use in small numbers. Users of information terminals are mostly
well-educated people who are often in areas where these terminals
are located, which confirms findings that groups marginalized in
terms of education and, consequently, income, are on the margins
of urban activities even in spatial terms. Since these population
groups do not often use ICT at work, neither do they frequent libraries,
e-points and public institutions, most policies aimed at bridging
the digital divide are mistargetted due to the failure to take into
consideration their temporal and spatial movements. This should
be an issue of concern for planners of future public terminals,
the so-called e-points, who should take this conclusion into consideration
and create policies for the promotion of informatization in the
City of Ljubljana on a borough-based approach. This concept was
the cornerstone measure for incorporating informationally marginalized
population groups in the US, as laid out in the Second Programme
for the Development of National Information Infrastructure (NII
II). If e-points were set up in the borough of Rakova Jelša
or the old part of Štepanjsko naselje, the long-term effects
of improving digital literacy would arguably be significantly better
than with current informationalization policies.
In addition to education,
a crucial factor determining the placement of residents into the
informationalized group is age. Mobile telephony, Internet, SMS,
Internet banking and information terminals are mostly used by those
under 25. In the use of personal computers, they are often joined
by the 25-40 age group. The info-urban city population is thus made
up of younger, school-going users, as well as those with higher
education that are not older than 40. This is a typical demographic
structure of the early adopters of information technologies which,
in Slovenia as well as elsewhere, is only slowly transforming into
a demographically more diverse user structure.
What Do Users Do on the
Internet?
In the segment on
the informatization of the residents, we also included a set of
questions aimed at obtaining information on the daily use and opportunities
offered by the Internet. The questions were answered by 191 respondents
who qualified as Internet users.
Half of those polled use the Internet
several times a day, 16.4% use it almost every day,
22% several times a week, while the remaining 9.5 percent
use it only a few times a month. If we define regular users
as those who use the Internet at least several times a week, the
conclusion is that the majority of the Ljubljana Internet population
are regular users, as they account for 89.6 percent of all Internet
users.
More problematic from the developmental point of view are the results
of the analysis on the use of the Internet, which are given in the
subsequent table divided into specific uses and frequency of use.
Considering the fact that nine-tenths of those included in this
part of the survey are regular users, it is surprising how low the
shares are for daily and weekly use in several categories provided
by the Internet.
A more detailed analysis was conducted
to determine what the actual uses are in relation to mere frequency
of presence in cyberspace. Users were divided into those who use
the internet several times a day, almost every day and several
times a week, and others who use it less often. The analysis
has established that users who use the Internet several times a
day to search for work-related information, stand out in terms of
how frequently they search for information/content (52.6%). Also
represented in this group are all daily telecommuters included in
the survey (24.5% of them work from home daily).
Regular users also frequently search
for entertainment, education and hobby-related information on the
Internet. Younger Internet users are the most likely to use the
Internet for entertainment, while users in the 40-55 age group are
least likely to do so.
Only one quarter of Internet users
use the Internet for shopping at domestic or foreign online stores.
Regular users – those who use the Internet several times a
day – also represent the majority of online shoppers in the
City of Ljubljana. Only about a quarter of the users, meanwhile,
use the opportunity to reserve tickets online.
Table 2: Frequency
of daily Internet use for specific purposes
|
Daily |
Weekly |
Occasionally |
Never |
Searching for work-related
information |
33.7 % |
26.2 % |
28.4 % |
11.7 % |
Entertainment |
17.9 % |
18.4 % |
33.2 % |
30.4 % |
Education |
14.8 % |
21.4 % |
42.3 % |
21.5 % |
Telecommuting |
12.7 % |
8.4 % |
18.4% |
60.4 % |
Getting information
on society and politics |
11.4 % |
10.2 % |
26.4 % |
52 % |
Searching for information
on cultural and sports events |
9.5 % |
22.8 % |
46.8 % |
20.9 % |
Searching for information
on hobbies |
7.6 % |
26.9 % |
39.8 % |
25.7 % |
Checking TV schedule |
6.7 % |
10.3 % |
28.5 % |
54.5 % |
Taking part in forums |
3.7 % |
3.2 % |
12.3 % |
80.9 % |
Listening to radio,
concerts |
1.7 % |
5.7 % |
16.2% |
76.5 % |
Getting shopping information |
1.7 % |
13.5 % |
36.2 % |
48.5 % |
Searching for tourist
information |
0.2 % |
12.4 % |
71.8 % |
15.6 % |
Shopping in Slovenia |
0 % |
0.9 % |
15.8 % |
83.3 % |
Shopping abroad |
0 % |
1.6 % |
16.6 % |
81.9 % |
Reserving tickets |
0 % |
3.6 % |
27.6 % |
68.8 % |
A crucial piece of
information for the development of virtual democracy is that the
most frequent Internet users are those who take part in forums and
often obtain information on politics and social affairs online.
Interestingly, the share of men interested in politics is significantly
higher than the share of women (56.9% of women never search for
information on politics, as opposed to only 46.4 percent of men).
The oldest population (over 55) is the most interested in political
subjects, while the youngest, “Internet population”,
is least interested. It is this “lack of interest” in
politics as manifest in the young population that could present
a challenge for creators of the virtual democracy portal: they should
consider creating interesting political and development content
on youth issues, which are usually pushed to the margins of development
policies.
Data on the specific
use of the Internet are worrisome from the developmental point of
view, illustrating a distinct lack of interesting and useful content
in Slovenian cyberspace. Although data suggests a significant level
of informatization, this is only to a minor extent reflected in
lifestyle changes. The younger and better educated do use cyberspace
as an arena of daily life and work, but younger users use it mostly
for entertainment, while the cross-section of all age groups of
(regular) users reveals the Internet mostly as a tool for searching
for information. There is very little virtualised consumption in
domestic cyberspace. What is worse, the current state of Internet
content in the City of Ljubljana hardly enables the emergence of
virtual democracy.
Willingness of Residents
to Participate in Politics – Possibilities for the Development
of a (Local) Virtual Democracy
Debates on the emergence,
development and downfall of digital cities often touch on the commercialisation
and profanity of projects that started out with the best of intentions
(See Lenarcic, 2002). Yet this criticism, coming from disappointed
early planners, is often merely a consequence of their weak social
empathy. Numerous early examples of virtual democracies were designed
with a view to including broad groups of residents in debates on
development policies. Yet in practice, it has turned out that users
often started using the new, often freely accessible, interaction
space for other forms of interaction more closely related to their
personal interests, ranging from leisure to sex and professional
interests.
We believe that, although not envisaged
by the designers, such use of digital cities is by no means “irregular,
wrong or forbidden”. It is simply the result of the fact that
some users have taken advantage of the new arena of association
to create and develop more or less stable interest groups. Yet through
the debate forums, these groups have often informally discussed
issues relevant to the development of cities, and sometimes arrived
at possible solutions. The anonymity of the debate forums often
promoted the participation of marginalized groups and individuals,
who dared speak up about their specific problems. At the same time,
they demystified and destigmatized what had been foreign and unfamiliar
to the majority mainstream population. Occasionally, these interest
cyberforums evolved into pressure groups which achieved a solution
to concrete problems at the city level. Unfortunately, it also happened
that these forums died out after the problems were resolved.
The question “What do you
think about politicians communicating with the public via the Internet?
Should city politicians and administrators follow their example?”
reveals that as many as 54% of those polled would like a system
enabling “direct communication of the residents with them”.
Interestingly, two-thirds of Internet users search for information
on Ljubljana, while the main reason for those who do not search
for this information is that it is “more readily accessible
in other media”.
Also notable for the development
of political participation in the City of Ljubljana are answers
to the question inquiring about the willingness for active participation
in the development of virtual democracy, where respondents were
asked if and how they would take part in political decision-making
at the city and national levels.
Considering the decade-long “crisis
of political participation” as recorded by surveys in Slovenia
and abroad, the results indicate that Ljubljana residents are, to
a high degree, “political beings”. The 40-55 age group
would like to communicate with the mayor most. Interestingly however,
all other age groups – with the exception of the over 55 group
– would prefer to communicate with the mayor via the Internet.
Table 3: Active participation
of Ljubljana residents in the development of virtual democracy
|
Daily |
Weekly |
Occasionally |
Never |
Searching for work-related
information |
33.7 % |
26.2 % |
28.4 % |
11.7 % |
Entertainment |
17.9 % |
18.4 % |
33.2 % |
30.4 % |
Education |
14.8 % |
21.4 % |
42.3 % |
21.5 % |
Telecommuting |
12.7 % |
8.4 % |
18.4% |
60.4 % |
Getting information
on society and politics |
11.4 % |
10.2 % |
26.4 % |
52 % |
Searching for information
on cultural and sports events |
9.5 % |
22.8 % |
46.8 % |
20.9 % |
Searching for information
on hobbies |
7.6 % |
26.9 % |
39.8 % |
25.7 % |
Checking TV schedule |
6.7 % |
10.3 % |
28.5 % |
54.5 % |
Taking part in forums |
3.7 % |
3.2 % |
12.3 % |
80.9 % |
Listening to radio,
concerts |
1.7 % |
5.7 % |
16.2% |
76.5 % |
Getting shopping information |
1.7 % |
13.5 % |
36.2 % |
48.5 % |
Searching for tourist
information |
0.2 % |
12.4 % |
71.8 % |
15.6 % |
Shopping in Slovenia |
0 % |
0.9 % |
15.8 % |
83.3 % |
Shopping abroad |
0 % |
1.6 % |
16.6 % |
81.9 % |
Reserving tickets |
0 % |
3.6 % |
27.6 % |
68.8 % |
A crucial piece of
information for the development of virtual democracy is that the
most frequent Internet users are those who take part in forums and
often obtain information on politics and social affairs online.
Interestingly, the share of men interested in politics is significantly
higher than the share of women (56.9% of women never search for
information on politics, as opposed to only 46.4 percent of men).
The oldest population (over 55) is the most interested in political
subjects, while the youngest, “Internet population”,
is least interested. It is this “lack of interest” in
politics as manifest in the young population that could present
a challenge for creators of the virtual democracy portal: they should
consider creating interesting political and development content
on youth issues, which are usually pushed to the margins of development
policies.
Data on the specific
use of the Internet are worrisome from the developmental point of
view, illustrating a distinct lack of interesting and useful content
in Slovenian cyberspace. Although data suggests a significant level
of informatization, this is only to a minor extent reflected in
lifestyle changes. The younger and better educated do use cyberspace
as an arena of daily life and work, but younger users use it mostly
for entertainment, while the cross-section of all age groups of
(regular) users reveals the Internet mostly as a tool for searching
for information. There is very little virtualised consumption in
domestic cyberspace. What is worse, the current state of Internet
content in the City of Ljubljana hardly enables the emergence of
virtual democracy.
Willingness of Residents
to Participate in Politics – Possibilities for the Development
of a (Local) Virtual Democracy
Debates on the emergence,
development and downfall of digital cities often touch on the commercialisation
and profanity of projects that started out with the best of intentions
(See Lenarcic, 2002). Yet this criticism, coming from disappointed
early planners, is often merely a consequence of their weak social
empathy. Numerous early examples of virtual democracies were designed
with a view to including broad groups of residents in debates on
development policies. Yet in practice, it has turned out that users
often started using the new, often freely accessible, interaction
space for other forms of interaction more closely related to their
personal interests, ranging from leisure to sex and professional
interests.
We believe that, although not envisaged
by the designers, such use of digital cities is by no means “irregular,
wrong or forbidden”. It is simply the result of the fact that
some users have taken advantage of the new arena of association
to create and develop more or less stable interest groups. Yet through
the debate forums, these groups have often informally discussed
issues relevant to the development of cities, and sometimes arrived
at possible solutions. The anonymity of the debate forums often
promoted the participation of marginalized groups and individuals,
who dared speak up about their specific problems. At the same time,
they demystified and destigmatized what had been foreign and unfamiliar
to the majority mainstream population. Occasionally, these interest
cyberforums evolved into pressure groups which achieved a solution
to concrete problems at the city level. Unfortunately, it also happened
that these forums died out after the problems were resolved.
The question “What do you
think about politicians communicating with the public via the Internet?
Should city politicians and administrators follow their example?”
reveals that as many as 54% of those polled would like a system
enabling “direct communication of the residents with them”.
Interestingly, two-thirds of Internet users search for information
on Ljubljana, while the main reason for those who do not search
for this information is that it is “more readily accessible
in other media”.
Also notable for the development
of political participation in the City of Ljubljana are answers
to the question inquiring about the willingness for active participation
in the development of virtual democracy, where respondents were
asked if and how they would take part in political decision-making
at the city and national levels.
Considering the decade-long “crisis
of political participation” as recorded by surveys in Slovenia
and abroad, the results indicate that Ljubljana residents are, to
a high degree, “political beings”. The 40-55 age group
would like to communicate with the mayor most. Interestingly however,
all other age groups – with the exception of the over 55 group
– would prefer to communicate with the mayor via the Internet.
Table 3: Active participation
of Ljubljana residents in the development of virtual democracy
|
Yes, via the Internet
|
Yes, but not via the
Internet |
No |
Don’t know |
Write letter to the
mayor |
29.9% |
30.5% |
38.9% |
0.7% |
Write letter to a city
councillor |
24.6% |
28.9% |
45.0% |
1.5% |
Write letter to MP |
24.9% |
25.3% |
48.6% |
1.2% |
Write letter to politicians
or state officials |
24.8% |
22.2% |
52.2% |
0.8% |
Sign petitions and
letters of support |
29.8% |
42.4% |
26.2% |
1.5% |
Take part in debates
on specific problems |
18.7% |
18.5% |
60.6% |
2.1% |
Take part in survey |
31.5% |
30.7% |
35.5% |
2.2% |
Take part in voting,
elections |
30.4% |
47.5% |
20.7% |
0.0% |
Check political content |
26.8% |
26.2% |
47.0% |
1.4% |
Search for official
documents |
45.2% |
25.6% |
28.4% |
0.8% |
Considering the high
preference for cooperation in the city’s political life and
the willingness to participate, we believe the city should make
better use of the political propensity discovered by this survey,
and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new platform
to increase political participation. After all, this would give
greater legitimacy and consensus to political decisions.
In addition to the
secondarily politically engaged individuals and civil society groups,
a range of subcultures has taken shape in the cyberspace of digital
cities. These have often been mere transplants of existing and often
dispersed groups into a new networked space of exchange, or they
emerged as new subcultures that initially existed only in cyberspace.
This subculture “plethora” is perhaps the greatest single
contributor to the vibrancy of digital cities and, for us cybernauts,
a clear indicator that divides the boring, bureaucratic (top-to-bottom)
informatization – a particularly bad example of which is,
unfortunately, Ljubljana – and the successful examples of
vibrant digital spaces, which in Ljubljana primarily reside at Ljudmila
and Kiber-pipa.
In the development
of freely accessible info-urban habitats, the evolutionary potential
for self-development is the crucial opportunity that planners should
take into account of from the onset, creating entrance portals to
digital cities with this goal in mind. These portals have to offer
more than just administrative, formal, two-way political participation,
institutional and business areas. They need to include cyber (sub)spaces
for the free expression of opinions and the formation of cyberspace
interest groups, and take into account the variety of user groups
in terms of demographics, income and interests.
Furthermore, the knowledge
concealed from non-members of the emerging subcultures is the basis
for the development of generalised exchange (See Trcek, 2002). Experts
in individual fields offer their skills on their presentation pages
to (usually) unknown seekers of information. This advice can be
free and devoid of the expectation of reciprocity, or not. What
emerges from this broad scope of knowledge are local urban (informal)
microeconomies, which can combine through knowledge-exchange markets
into networks of tacit knowledge. The exchange of information is
also possible as a primarily non-monetary exchange. Networks of
such micro-economies can intertwine by interest, as well as territorial
principles, and combine exchanges in the cyber and physical space.
Usually, the only obstacle to the success of such networks in glocalised
cyberspace is the poor knowledge of foreign languages, or the lack
thereof.
The Internet and the New
Spatial Plan for the City of Ljubljana – Towards a New Legitimacy
of Spatial Planning
The use of the Internet
can confer new legitimacy to spatial planning, since it emphasises
mutual communication between city authorities and departments on
the one side, and interested groups of residents – the public
on the other. Ultimately, the idea is to use the Internet as a permanent
space for public presentations of spatial plans, and a platform
for public debates about these documents. This way, debates on spatial
planning attract social groups that are usually excluded from such
discussions, which would give spatial planning policies in the City
of Ljubljana greater legitimacy.
The survey also asked the respondents
about spatial planning as such, particularly the new spatial plan.
It has been established that a large number of residents (31%) miss
or somewhat miss (29%) information on spatial planning in the city,
and that only 11% of the respondents are not interested in the issue
at all. Yet only one third of those interested in spatial planning
have heard about the drafting of the new spatial plan. Most have
heard about it in newspapers (53%), TV (33%) and the city magazine
Ljubljana (21%).
It is encouraging that 40% of those
polled are willing to participate in the drafting of the new spatial
plan, most of them through surveys (59%) and by taking part in spatial
planning workshops (47%). Of those who are most interested in the
city’s spatial planning, as many as 17% believe they could
contribute to the creation of the new spatial plan with their expertise.
It is also interesting to note that residents feel that living in
Ljubljana is the same (41%), better (26%) or markedly better (7%)
as compared to a decade ago.
Table 4: Willingness
of respondents to take part in the drafting of a new spatial plan
for the City of Ljubljana
Take part
in written and phone surveys |
58.0 % |
Take part in workshops
where residents exchange views on spatial planning issues |
46.7 % |
Take part in presentations
and public debates on new spatial plans |
43.2 % |
Take part in Internet
surveys |
37.2 % |
Take part in online
chatrooms dealing with spatial planning issues |
29.4 % |
Willing to participate
on spatial planning team with my own expertise |
17.2 % |
Already taking part
in the drafting of the spatial plan |
2.8 % |
Don’t know |
1.1 % |
Among the respondents
interested in the city’s spatial planning, as many as 37%
would take part in Internet surveys and 29% in chatrooms dedicated
to the subject. These are relatively high shares of the informationalized
population that have expressed interest in participating in the
drafting of the new plan. The results also indicate that two-thirds
of Internet users also search the Internet for information on Ljubljana,
which should be considered in the creation of policies about communicating
with the target segments of the public on all crucial development
issues.
Of all Internet users,
as many as 49% want to receive newsletters on the city’s spatial
plan via the Internet. While 18% would like to receive all news
related to the plan, 31% want to get only those that they are personally
interested in. Given an appropriate structure of newsletter, the
e-news creators could cover all groups of residents that are crucial
for the legitimacy of spatial planning, and include their desires
and needs in the planning of the city’s spatial development.
Considering the demographic
and structural features of the respondents, it has been established
that regular Internet users, men somewhat more then women, show
the most interest in the city’s spatial development concerns
and participation in local virtual democracy. Additionally, age
groups ranging from 25 to 40 are the ones that miss information
about spatial development most. Of all the topical spatial development
issues, respondents are best acquainted with the construction of
a new central football stadium, which has also been receiving the
greatest media coverage.
Results of the survey ultimately
lead to the conclusion that the Internet is still an untapped resource
that can be used to expand the debate of the city’s spatial
development. It is a new sphere of social interaction, whose cyber
forums and presentation pages could be utilised to include groups
that are typically excluded from the spatial planning process. Yet
as long as the city’s development policies fail to include
operative guidelines on bridging the digital divide, the already
marginalized urban groups of poorly educated, older and lowest-income
residents will be excluded from the informatization processes and
political life. The Internet is thus a medium that can expand the
area of political participation and include those informationalized
groups that are usually excluded from public debates into the city’s
political life. Yet without appropriate digital literacy policies,
the Internet cannot contribute to a more vibrant and active political
life in the city.
Conclusion
The analysis of the
survey has shown that Ljubljana is distinctly more informationalized
than Slovenia is on average. And if by regular users we mean people
who use the Internet at least several times a week, the majority
of Ljubljana’s Internet population are regular users. The
results also suggest that Ljubljana residents are largely willing
to communicate with the local authorities via the Internet. Internet
users, as well as other respondents, are most interested in accessing
official documents online. Ultimately, people want an efficient
virtual portal that will provide information on relevant administrative
and political decisions in an accessible and transparent manner,
and direct them with clear and easy to understand instructions towards
solutions to their respective problems.
Regardless of the overall low political
participation in cyberspace, Internet users are very optimistic
about the Internet’s potential in this respect. For them,
the Internet is a democratic medium, since it is in many ways more
efficient and simpler than current political practices. Moreover,
the majority believe that participating in various debates through
the Internet has become simpler, but that this type of Internet
use is clearly poorly developed.
The results of the project Virtual
Ljubljana: Political Participation and Overcoming the Information
Exclusion – Guidelines and Activities for Introducing Local
Virtual Democracy, suggest that many Ljubljana residents miss
Internet-based information about their city’s spatial plans,
and that people have considerable interest in helping to create
the new spatial plan. This leads to the conclusion that the Internet
is an untapped resource which could be employed to expand discussions
on the future spatial development of Ljubljana.
In Slovenia, the idea of virtual
democracy is therefore apparently facing a unique paradox: it is
clearly obvious that the implementation of virtual democracy is
not plagued by distrust in the Internet or the lack of interest
among users. The reasons for the failure of virtual democracies
have to lie elsewhere – most probably with the current informatization
policies, which are not all that successful. The currently successful
virtual democracies are the result of concerted and synergetic efforts
by informationally-minded city authorities and public administration,
the providers of information services, civil society groups and
especially, cyber subculture groups and the scientific potential
of regional university and research centres. This is still missing
in Slovenia.
Referencias:
Carter, Dave: "Digital Democracy"
or "Information Aristocracy"? Economic Regeneration and
the Information Economy. In Loader, B. (ed.): The Governance
of Cyberspace. Politics, Technology and Global Restructuring.
Routledge, London, 1997
Lenarcic, Bla: Fizicno Vs. virtualno mesto. BA thesis,
FDV, 2002
Oblak, Tanja: Images of Electronic Democracy: Communication
Technologies and Changes in Participation and Communication Processes.
Doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Social Sciences, 2001
Trcek, Franc: Problemi informatizacije Slovenije. In Teorija
in praksa, XXXVII, No. 6, 2000
Trcek, Franc: Kiberkulture – k novim ekonomijam obdarovanja.
In Debeljak, Aleš et al. Cooltura: uvod v kulturne študije.
Študentska zaloba, Ljubljana, 2002
Tsagarousianou, Roza, Tambini, Damian and Bryon, Cathy (eds.): Cyberdemocracy,
Technology, Cities and Civic Networks. Routhledge, New York,
1998
Franc Trcek
Center for Spatial Sociology, Faculy of Social Sciences,
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia |