Urban forum project : a report on community communications in six Canadian urban centres

Abstract

The urban environment has technology, talent, resources, interested and involved citizens and policy-makers. It does not however have much citizen involvement in public policy-making nor does it have much two-way communication between the different sectors of the environment. In order for people and governments to survive in an ever increasingly complex environment, two-way communication on vital matters becomes a necessity. To effect such a two-way system requires little more than the conscious decision to use the existing technology to serve the public interest by expanding the flows of information and giving citizens access to the media. The need for this type of system has become obvious to people all across Canada, and all across Canada people have been attempting to create their own little public communication systems. The following reports are sketches of the type of attempts being made in urban centers across Canada and the directions that they are going in, and include recommendations as to how an urban forum system, involving two-way communication between people and various levels of government might be instituted.