1. What is Wikicity Auckland?
Wikicity Auckland is a map where anybody concerened with Auckland city can post on a need, desire, or idea, in relation to a particular place. This post can be anything from a pedestrian corssing, sports stadium, to a design incubator. The key is to state what it is you need, why you think it should be there, and how the issue could be solved.
The vision for this project is to provide an online map that provides a place where peoples ideas, needs and desires for the city can be discussed.
Wikicity Auckland aspires to operate in a similar way to online social networking systems such as Facebook. Systems such as ‘Facebook’ have an unprecedented ability to create massive virtual crowds through shared interest. However, the real power of these virtual crowds come into play when they start to effect our physical environment. If people can talk about the city’s issues in a similar collective way, we’ve already got 90% of the power needed to influence change, and to democratically run our city.
2. Why are we doing this?
Ultimately, the key driver for Wikicity Auckland is to empower people. It is to empower people to have a say, re-engage, and to democratically run the city.
Studies by Demos show that ‘we are, on average, less likely o vote, join political parties, or trust our elected representatives than 30 years ago. But, at the same time, the range and size of social movements and campaigns that people are involved with has never been so broad, and over half the population says it is interested in politics. On the whole, we’d like to be involved more in politics, but cannot find easy ways to do so.’__ Andrea Cornwall, ‘Democratising engagement, what the UK can learn from international experience’.
50 years ago, 25% of New Zealands population was a member of a political party. Today, it’s a struggle to simply get people to vote for a party. The fundamental question that Wikicity Auckland attempts to grapple with, is whether it is possible to re-engage the masses, through an informal map of discussions on the web about our city.
3. Who is Wikicity Auckland run by?
Wikicity Auckland is a non profit project run by Atelier Monmoto.
For more information on Atelier Monmoto, please visit http://ateliermonmoto.wordpress.com/
4. What will we do with Wikicity Auckland?
To be perfectly honest, we’re not 100% certain what exactly we’re going to do with the information we gather on this map. However, that’s exactly why we’re doing this. We’re learning from experience and dialogue. So far here are some possible ways that Wikicity Auckland could be used.
1. Wikicity Auckland has the potential to influence the city’s governance through critical mass. The current systems used to voice a concern is outdated, over bureaucratic, too slow, and needs to be more transparent. The vision for Wikicity Auckland is to provide an up to date system that will inform our city’s key policy changes.
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5. The Analogue Series
The Analogue Series is a physical precursor of the web version of Wikicity Auckland, and it’s probably what most of you are most familiar with.
Driven by the learn as you go ethos, we’ve currently got three of these maps located around Auckland.
wikicity auckland 