OpenCity: participatory citizen science in urban public spaces

OpenCity comprises a proof of concept and the development of a prototype for a citizen science platform that reveals social and spatial injustices in the city and actively involves citizens 
in the way the city is shaped in discourses, institutions, policy, and the social and physical 
environment. 
OpenCity lays the foundation for a platform of the same name (working title) for researchers, citizens, and 
professional users that is inclusive, participatory, and intergenerational. Through this platform,
users from different generations can interact with other stakeholders to indicate: 
• how they experience (certain aspects of) public space and the discourse surrounding it
• how they use and value (certain functions in) public space (e.g., educational, 
recreational, social)
• where they feel welcome or excluded, and why
• what proposals they formulate to improve the discourse about, the design of, and 
experience of public space, 
• how they can or want to contribute to the co-creation of public space.

The platform collects, analyses and visualises both quantitative and qualitative data. The 
proof of concept focuses on investigating the feasibility of this platform. The prototype is 
a working test version that is used to test the functionality, methodologies, interactions and 
data processes on a small scale. This is done on the basis of two use cases from Navigating Social
Justice in Public Spaces, namely the use case on the intergenerational aspects of the appreciation of 
urban nature and the use case on relationships between residents and temporary users of public 
space, viewed from an intergenerational perspective.