In depth

How DEMOCITY works.

A real place can gather many people’s proposals and conversations. The photograph gives a shared reference. Bytorget lets ideas meet experience, questions and counter-arguments. Explore, the map, following and sharing bring people in and back. Comparison and votes with reasons make selected alternatives easier to examine. A/B/C is today’s format within one person’s proposal set. There is no limit of three ideas for the place. Hundreds or thousands is a possible scale, not documented use.

One place, many proposals

You don’t need to be able to draw. You describe a physical change, and it is shown in the same photo of the place as every other proposal. A proposal set is one person’s idea: up to three alternatives, with the author’s name, intention and question. The neighbour, the student and the architect each make their own set for the same place.

A diagram, not a real place. A, B and C are only names for the alternatives in one set.

The original photo: the shared starting point. Every proposal is made from it, never from another proposal.
One proposal set: one author, up to three alternatives.
Posts and replies, linked to the place, a set or one proposal.

Finding your way: When a place gets many proposals, people need ways in: the map, places you save, people and organisations you follow, and Bytorget. Finding and selecting is not the same as comparing.
Comparing: Comparison and the summary of answers cover one proposal set at a time, against the place today. Comparing and summarising across authors has not been built.
Scale: A place can get hundreds or thousands of proposals. That is a possible scale, not documented use.

On this website, each of the two real places shows one proposal set. Both are working examples from the DEMOCITY project, not proposals from neighbours or anyone else.

In the product illustration, three people have made one proposal each, and the proposals are compared and summarised across authors. That illustrates a direction. Today’s prototype handles one proposal set at a time.

Answers, votes and what counts

There are four kinds of activity in DEMOCITY. Only one of them is an answer that is counted.

Discussion: Posts, comments and replies on Bytorget. Knowledge, questions and disagreement. Doesn’t count as a vote.
Sharing: Copy the link, share it on Bytorget in your own words, or use your phone’s share menu. Brings more people in. A shared link keeps the place and the image it was shared with.
Reactions: Like, dislike and following a person or organisation. Social signals. They don’t count in the participation.
Say what you think: One choice – Today, A, B or C – and up to three reasons. The only thing that is counted and summarised, for one proposal set at a time.

Preferring an image doesn’t say which parts you support. That is why an answer can have up to three reasons: what gets better, what is lost, and what needs to be clarified.

The five-answer threshold

The threshold applies to the public summary. Until a proposal set has five answers, others only see how many have answered: no distribution and no reasons.
From five answers, the distribution and the reasons are shown to everyone who sees the set. Each person counts once, and no one is shown by name.
The author of the set sees the distribution and the reasons even before five answers, and what people have written in their own words about what gets better, is lost or needs clarifying, without names.
The threshold of five is provisional.

Likes, dislikes, shares, comments and polls on Bytorget cannot reach the summary. Conversations and knowledge are still important contributions to participation: they show needs, disagreement and what needs clarifying, which a count does not.

How a proposal is made

The prototype is closed and only for invited participants.

On this website you can see how, but you can’t make proposals.

Describe the physical change you want, and what should stay as it is.
Each alternative is made from the same original photo, up to three in one set.
Look at the image and judge it yourself before you save it as a working proposal.

See how the proposals in Kingos gate were made

Proposal, assessment and decision

Proposal: An image is a working proposal. It shows an idea, not something that has been assessed or decided.
Professional assessment: Whether a proposal can be built, and what it requires, has to be assessed professionally. A professional background gives no decision-making authority.
Decision: What happens is decided by whoever has the mandate. Who that is must be stated in each case.

DEMOCITY can gather proposals, discussions and answers with reasons. A participation process needs more:

an explanation of what the case is about, and what has already been decided
real room for influence: what the input can change
someone who is responsible and shows what happens to the input
a decision-maker with a mandate; who that is must be stated in each case

Disagreement and needs for knowledge are useful results, not noise. Numbers are shown only for answers that were actually given, and together with the question they answered.

No participation process has taken place in Kingos gate or Parkveien. No municipality, owner or neighbourhood has asked for the examples, and no decision follows from them.

How it works in the prototype

A proposal set has one person as its author. An organisation can post, but cannot make proposals.
Occupation and professional background are free text and are not checked. A profile is not verified and gives no authority.

What can you try now?

This website

No sign-in

Two real places, Parkveien and Kingos gate, with today’s photo and one proposal set each.
A response on Kingos gate that only exists in your browser.

Try it on Kingos gate

The product walkthrough

No sign-in · illustration

Bytorget, the map, a place with several authors, comparison and what people think.
The place, people, posts and numbers are invented. The real places are not included.
There, three people have made one proposal each, and the proposals are compared across authors. In the prototype a set has one author, and comparison covers one set at a time.

See the tourIllustration with invented examples

The closed prototype

Invited participants only

Making your own proposal sets from the original photo.
Answering with a choice and up to three reasons, and seeing the summary for one proposal set.
Bytorget with posts, comments, sharing, following, reporting and moderation.
The author of a proposal set sees the distribution and the reasons even before five answers, and what people have written in their own words, without names. How much the author should see has not been finally decided.

Not built yet

Process roles, mandate and visible follow-up of input.
Rounds, and what happens to answers when a proposal changes.
Comparison and summaries across authors.

Principles

Technology should not decide what the city looks like.

It should enable more people to take part in the discussion about it. That is why this applies to every proposal:

What the image model does: It makes a described idea visible on the place, so more people can show ideas without drawing. It doesn’t decide what is proposed, and it assesses nothing.
Same photo: Every proposal is made from the same original photo, in the same framing. It is a shared starting point, not a guarantee: the image model redraws the whole image.
Clear origin: It always says what is a photo and what is AI-generated.
What an approval covers: A person approves every image before it is shown. Approved for display is not the same as assessed for quality and likeness to the place, checked for privacy or professionally assessed. Each place says what has been done.
Proposal, assessment, decision: An image is a working proposal. Whether it can be built requires a professional assessment, and what happens is decided by whoever has the mandate.