CITIZEN 2025 – Crisis Communication & Citizen-Centered Approach
After an incredibly interesting and educational day at CITIZEN 2024, we’re recharging for this year’s edition. This time entirely digital, but with continued focus on knowledge exchange regarding citizen dialogue, long-term communication goals, and channel strategies. This year we’re focusing on crisis communication and a citizen-centered approach.
When?
📅 Date: April 7th, 2025
🕒 Time: Start 9:00 (Stockholm/Oslo time)
📍 The event is digital - you will recieve a ZOOM- link on sign-up.
Speakers
We will gradually update with information about the speakers who will participate throughout the day. In addition to the lectures, we will allocate plenty of time for questions and dialogue.
9:15 - 10:00 | The best laid plans of mice and men
Jake Taylor - Design and Technology Lead | The Connective
Despite ambitious plans and the best intentions, many public projects fail to engage residents. Citizen-centered approaches are no longer just a good idea – they are an expectation. It either drives engagement or kills it.
To create services and solutions that truly work, municipal leaders must stop thinking like a city and instead see things from the residents' perspective. Jake Taylor, an expert in behavioral design and smart cities, explores how digital expectations shape the interaction between city and citizen. He explains why agility and simplicity are the keys to success, and who truly holds the responsibility for ensuring information reaches its audience.
10:15 - 11:00 | What does it mean for a municipality to engage citizens in the long term?
Øyvind S. Tanum & Kristin Solhaug Næss | stedskaping.no
Why is this so important? A municipality's communication with its residents is the foundation of the dialogue between local authorities and the community. One of the challenges is that, even though we strive for simple and clear communication, the messages, dilemmas, and decision-making processes within a municipality are often complex and difficult to understand. Achieving success over time requires more than just occasional successful projects – it’s a continuous process.
Join us as Stedskaping shares insights and experiences on how Nordic municipalities can use digital engagement as a tool. We will present concrete cases and dilemmas, and hope that this contributes to shared learning and the development of citizen engagement and trust in Norwegian communities.
11:15 - 12:00 | Resilience through communication
Denys Nazarenko - CIO Advisor | Kyiv City Council
From Digital Tools to Community Trust: Kyiv’s Path to a Resilient Ecosystem
Join the conversation with Denys Nazarenko, CIO Advisor at Kyiv City Council, as he discusses how Kyiv maintains community trust through innovative communication tools and methods – from the Kyiv Digital app to the broader ecosystem of resilient technology:
- Reliable Channels – Creating trustworthy communication platforms for crisis management.
- Risk Mitigation – Using advanced tools to identify and counter both disinformation and fake news.
- Rapid Communication – Ensuring quick updates in critical situations.
- Citizen Engagement – Leveraging technology to enhance resident participation.
12:00-12:30 Citizens in a New Era – From Smart to Wise City
Trygve Meyer - Head of Nordic Edge Smart City Innovation Cluster | Nordic Edge
Smart cities and digital solutions are merely tools to achieve the wise and good city. Clear and inclusive communication between a city and its citizens is absolutely essential to build trust, promote civic engagement and participation, increase societal resilience, and strengthen democracy over time. Open and accessible information enables community-based solutions to local challenges — solutions that take citizens seriously and encourage collaboration.
Registration
Sign up now. We will send out more information via email as the event approaches.
