A special online simulator to gauge citizens values was launched by Community Planning Aberdeen (CPA) today.
Aberdeen City Council and Police Scotland as key members of CPA have invested in the online software as they recognise the challenges faced by citizens living in some localities to engage and participate in community planning.
While targeted community engagement is undertaken primarily through the Locality Empowerment Groups and Priority Neighbourhood Partnerships, the simulator will enable CPA to gauge more generally the attitude, priorities and values of the people and communities across Aberdeen.
Key to community engagement and empowerment is the ability of CPA to reach members of the community who face barriers because of their race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.
The simulator allows participants to choose from a set of projects and to rank those projects in relation of importance to the participant. Ranking is done by allocating a limited number of points to their priority project.
For example, the participant allocates 75 points to building digital skills across the city and 25 to encouraging people to walk and cycle, thus showing that digital skills is more important than walking and cycling for that participant.
The simulator will show the priority projects which have been identified to tackle competing priorities. Individual preferences will be collected and collated resulting in an overview of what is important for any given community and across the city.
Councillor Jenny Laing, co-leader of Aberdeen City Council and chair of Community Planning Aberdeen said: “Community Planning Aberdeen is committed to empowering the people of Aberdeen and the introduction of the values simulator will enable more citizens to express what is important and of value to them and for their community.
“While some citizens may wish to join one of our Locality Empowerment Groups and Priority Neighbourhood Partnerships, we want to ensure that everyone in our communities who may face barriers because of their race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief can be heard.”
Chief Superintendent George MacDonald, local police commander and vice chair of Community Planning Aberdeen, said: “It is really important that we capture the views of the public to support the mid-way review of the Aberdeen City Local Outcome Improvement Plan.
“We obviously have restrictions currently that prevent us from having the level of face-to-face engagement we would normally seek to achieve however the use of technology, and in particular the simulator, provides a real opportunity for us to ensure that we are on track, or where we need to perhaps focus more. This also allows us to capture a broad opinion base for this important piece of work.
“I would encourage residents to get involved and tell us what matters to you the most to help us shape the future of our communities.”
The results of the simulator will provide a useful cross check with feedback from those people and groups actively engaged against broader public opinion. Location analysis will also provide invaluable data at a local level.
To use the simulator, please click on link:
https://communityplanningaberdeen.pointsimulator.com
CPA is a partnership of public, private and the third sector working together to deliver improved outcomes for those who live, work, visit and do business in the city.
The Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) is a document which sets out how CPA will improve outcomes for and with local people and communities through three key themes: Economy, People and Place. The vision set out in the LOIP is that Aberdeen will be ‘a place where all people can prosper’ by 2026.
The LOIP is a ten-year plan which is reviewed in consultation with partners every two to three years and the introduction of the citizen values simulator has been launched ahead of a refreshed LOIP, which will be published in July 2021.
Community Planning Aberdeen consists of Aberdeen City Council; ACVO; Aberdeen Civic Forum; North East Scotland College; Police Scotland; Scottish Fire and Rescue; Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership; NHS Grampian; NESTRANS; Skills Development Scotland; Scottish Enterprise; Active Aberdeen Partnership and the University of Aberdeen.