The

Ulster Manifesto
on the promotion of electronic participation for territorial development in Europe
Signed at the University of Ulster, Belfast, on September 23rd, 2011 We, the undersigned, are policy makers, spatial planners, researchers and professionals in the domains of open and citizen centred innovation and electronic participation. In common with an increasing number of academics, politicians and ordinary people today, we share the belief that only by including and engaging citizens and businesses systematically in the democratic decision-making process - under fair, transparent and cost effective conditions - could we contribute to the improvement of our and our childrens community and personal lives in the years to come. We also think that the potential of ICT Information and Communication Technologies is decisive in enabling and creating the desired level of empowerment of a wider spectrum of actors in society. We believe that ICT tools are essential in setting up the infrastructure and processes that enhance those collective action effects that are actually needed to participate in the governance of our complex societies. Those tools, we believe, will also inform a new generation of public electronic services and institutional processes which are co-created and co-produced by the local constituencies on a peer basis with their own democratic representatives and the service providers. This challenge has been clearly accepted by the Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment of November 2009 in Malm, Sweden. The declaration was followed-up by the eGovernment Action Plan of December 2010 by the European Commission, and it is also envisioned in the Citadel Statementi, now having the support of every major local government association in Europe. Thus, we acknowledge that there is a growing awareness of the big social value residing in an infrastructure using ICT enabled processes, which needs to be channelled, reinvigorated, and turned into action. One promising example is the impact of Toscanas Regional law on public participation of December 2007ii, which has since introduced a soft revolution in the relationships between local governments, constituencies and bearers of vested interests on the occasion of large investment plans. Similarly, there are several international chartersiii, action plansiv, territorial development frameworksv and European directives already transposed into the legal systems of Member Statesvi, which make a mandatory reference to the citizens right to be fully informed and consulted before decision-making, whether by public notices or other appropriate means such as electronic media. Having this in mind, we have focused our attention on spatial planning and strategic environmental assessment as the most promising fields whereby the use of ICT can lead to the desired outcomes stated above.

As convinced Europeans, we look with confidence at the opportunities offered by the Open Method of Coordinationvii to achieve more convergence of policy targets, programmes and initiatives across the Member States, for issues that mostly reside under the legal competence of the national, regional and local parliaments and governments. And yet we believe that in several respects, the time is ripe for a broader and more encompassing initiative, specifically with regard to electronic participation for territorial development. Such an initiative could be actively supported by the creation of stable links and the convergence of interests and goals within a EU-wide community of practice. By signing this Manifesto, we engage to: - Continue the generation and exchange of experiences in the deployment of ICT tools and applications for the promotion of public participation in spatial planning and strategic environmental assessment. Support the creation of a European network of stakeholders for the dissemination of practices and the diffusion of innovative policy aspects in these domains. Enable the establishment of ties of collaboration with stakeholders active and experienced in methods, such as the Living Labs approachviii, of user-focused, user- driven, citizen-centred innovation, driving systemic and social innovation. Facilitate co-operation in e-participation demonstrations to enhance the validation and diffusion of both practical and theoretical knowledge of real-life community events using ICT-enabled tools and processes. Support the setting up of a knowledge base of electronic participation processes and findings according to open data principles. Use our own institutional relations to promote EU, national, and regional legislative and regulatory reform in the above stated directions.

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The Ulster Manifesto is proposed as an open document, for the addition of new signatories in the future, with the aim to reach the coverage of all European countries. Signed by Monica Andreou Evdokia Balamou Maria Cerreta Brian Cleland Grazia Concilio Luciano De Bonis Project Manager at Larnaca District Development Agency Research Director at Larnaca District Development Agency Researcher at the University of Naples Federico II Reader at the University of Ulster Associate Professor at the Polytechnic of Milan Associate Professor at the University of Molise Cyprus Cyprus Italy UK Italy Italy

Anna De Liddo Spyros Elenodorou Tiina Ferm Brendan Galbraith Emanuela Galetto John Heaven Patrizia Hongisto Abdul Khakee Oskari Kiviniemi Rolf Luehrs Angelo Marcotulli Jesse Marsh Suzanne Martin Francesco Molinari Jos Carlos Mota Maurice Mulvenna Olli Ojala Iolanda Romano Ferdinando Trapani Jonathan Wallace

Research Associate at The Open University President of Voroklini Community Council Professor at the Technical University of Turku Professor at the University of Ulster Project Manager at Avventura Urbana s.r.l. Project Manager at TuTech Innovation GmbH Senior Researcher on Social Innovation and Living Labs Professor emeritus at Royal Institute of Technology Professor at the Technical University of Turku

UK Cyprus Finland UK Italy Germany Finland Sweden Finland

Co-Founder & CEO at Demos The eParticipation Company Germany Manager at Regione Toscana Practitioner of territorial development and Living Labs Reader at the University of Ulster Practitioner of eParticipation and Living Labs Researcher at the University of Aveiro Professor at the University of Ulster Technical Manager at the Technical University of Turku Founder and CEO at Avventura Urbana s.r.l. Professor at the University of Palermo Professor at the University of Ulster Italy USA UK Italy Portugal UK Finland Italy Italy UK

i http://www.globalcitiesdialogue.com/downloads/Citadel%20Statement.pdf ii No. 69 of 2007, http://www.parterre-project.eu/LEGGE%2069%20DEL%202007%20IN%20INGLESE.pdf iii The European Regional Spatial Planning Charter (1983) adopted by the European Conference of Ministers

responsible for Regional Planning, http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/cemat/versioncharte/default_EN.asp

iv The Agenda 21 action plan, adopted by 178 Governments in 1992, http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/ v The European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) approved in 1999 by the Informal Council of Ministers

of Spatial Planning of the European Union, http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docoffic/official/reports/som_en.htm and the Territorial Agenda of the European Union, approved by the Informal Council of Ministers of Spatial Planning and Development in


May 2007, http://www.eu-territorial-agenda.eu/Reference%20Documents/Territorial-Agenda-of-the- European-Union-Agreed-on-25-May-2007.pdf
vi The SEA Directive (2001/42/EC), http://eur-

lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:197:0030:0037:IT:PDF and the Aarhus Directive (2003/35/EC), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:156:0017:0024:EN:PDF

vii http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/coordination/coordination01_en.htm viii http://www.openlivinglabs.eu