Future urban systems will have to become a lot more efficient in order to generate environments that can comfortably accommodate populations of millions of residents. The implementation of urban efficiency involves several types of direct interaction between city governments and their residents. Among the most important such interactions are (1) the need for community members to be actively involved in decision-making, (2) the ability of the government to play a variety of roles depending on specific context, and (3) demonstration of the many positive environmental, social and economic impacts of energy-efficient public projects.
All of these interactions imply a strong trust between the government and the community. The government must sometimes be a regulator, sometimes an owner/investor in projects, and even serve in some situations as a convener/facilitator of public and private activities. So how to build that trust?
First of all, a narrow view of trust is one that focuses on the individual and the community. A wider view emphasizes values and common goals. In other words, the wider view is on the society as a whole, not each individual making up that society. Depending on how the trust is built and what components of society it addresses, we can think of at least four types of societies that might emerge. Let’s call them the risk, the pluralistic, the rights-based and the advanced liberalism societies. Problems coming from the rise of auditing and systems of control, especially within advanced liberalism and pluralistic societies are especially dangerous in generating loss of trust in government planning.
But technology may well come to the rescue. We spoke in a different paper in this series about the rise of blockchains. These can help form trust in city government in several ways. For example, the blockchain dramatically increases transparency in all aspects of contracts. So building more comprehensive records of government transactions, creating time-stamped contracts and the like lays the groundwork for open government.
Central to all of the foregoing ideas regarding building trust is the matter of information. Being members of the society, the citizens want and need to know certain things about themselves and the social order. In order to supply that information, governments need to end the idea of “business as usual” and begin to engage with their citizenry. The government must serve citizens in the most convenient and scalable way.
In the end, this is the only way to establish trust between the government and those governed. So if citizens want a government they can trust, they must become active participants in city life.
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