Strategies and Methodologies for Civic Engagement and Social Empowerment

The paradigm of the post-industrial society of the 21st century, based on the diffusion of knowledge through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), coupled with the growing demands of contemporary society, exposes public management in an open and transparent scenario of thought-provoking challenge concerning the effectiveness of its actions. This scenario requires efforts from the public manager in order to reorganize its institutional arrangement, inserting innovations that allow the systematic competitiveness not only of the public sector, but of the other participating members of the urban experience. In the meantime, the concept of Human Smart Cities presents itself as a push element of transformation that aims to overcome this gap through the fruitful articulation and interaction of the public admnistration, the universities, the business and financial sectors and other members of civil society [1], using ICTs as the connectivity tool between these elements and the management of the co-design and co-creation activities. Such a transformation to innovate democracy requires an effort from the main players regarding the need to actively participate in the vision, strategy and implementation of the goals that characterize a Human Smart City that the authors present as a contribution to face the current Brazilian crisis. Given this context, the present study seeks to present strategies, methodologies and best practices for sensitization, civic engagement, social empowerment and sustainable motivation to participate in the co design and co-creation of a Human Smart City. Therefore, a systematic analysis was conducted, illustrated with the best practices implemented in the "Natal Human Smart City Program". Living Labs are used as a methodological basis for the Urban Living Lab - the engine of the city’s socioeconomic development - based on its innovation ecosystem, illustrated by the collaboration between the City Hall of Natal and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), through the Digital Metropolis Institute (IMD).