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government officials were prepared and trained. Personalised letters ex-
plaining the purpose and the methodology of the e-consultation were sent
to all those 136,337 people in the centre of Madrid who were entitled to
take part. This proved to be the most effective method for recruiting citi-
zens to take part in the e-consultation. Media support for the exercise was
widespread and very positive (Barrett and Reniu 2004).
A total of 882 voters (0.65% of the electoral roll for the district) took
part in the first e-consultation. Of the voting means available to them, 53%
voted electronically in one of the polling sites, 32% voted remotely via the
Internet, 3% used mobile phones with Java, and 9.5% used SMS
messaging. Half of the respondents approved of electronic means to par-
ticipate in consultation and in binding elections. Just 15% said that they
would be reluctant to use electronic tools for voting in binding elections.
Overall, most who took part were very positive about the effort to engage them
in discussion, but were critical of the questions asked in the e-consultation
and the options for responses. People were concerned about the need for
advanced security for e-polling (Cervelló 2006).
A sociological evaluation of the exercise showed that the demographic
profile of respondents compared with the population as a whole lacked
people in the 16-24 age group and amongst those aged over 70. While EU
and Latin American immigrants took part, Asian and African immigrants,
of whom there are significant communities within the area, had a participa-
tion rate of virtually zero.
Although the response rate was low, the City of Madrid was encouraged
to undertake three further e-consultations during 2005. The participatory
web portal has been re-designed, and the initiative has promoted awareness
of the City's public access Internet centres and helped people to learn to
use ICTs. The City council believes that in future participation rates can be
improved with an aggressive communications campaign and with a more
efficient registration process.
4.3.7 Chicago Neighbourhood Planning - USA
This pioneering case describes active engagement of a group of citizens
facilitated by use of ICT in a planning initiative in Pilsen, Chicago. Pilsen
is a largely Mexican-American community of approximately 50,000 peo-
ple (1999 figures) adjacent to the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC).
At the time of the case study (1999) the expansion of the UIC had en-
croached on housing and businesses in the district and had also resulted in
the closure of large, well-publicized community programmes. This situation
had led to overall distrust of the university by local residents. The university
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