INESC Porto takes digital democracy to the entire country

INESC Porto has developed a collaborative platform for the elaboration and public discussion of the Regional Plans for Town and Country Planning (PROT) for most Portuguese regions. With this platform, all users managed to achieve significant time gains and to reduce costs. The Commissions for the Coordination and Regional Development of Lisbon and Tagus Valley (CCDR-LVT), North (CCDR-N) and Centre regions (CCDR-C) all adopted the platform, supporting the PROTs of the West and Tagus Valley (PROT-OVT), North (PROT-N), Centre (PROT-C) and Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (PROT-AML). Three years after the platform was launched, it is now time to make a balance of the tool’s functionalities. BIP interviewed some of the most important participants in these works in order to understand the benefits that the platform developed by INESC Porto brought to the regions and to citizens.

The PROTs explained 

The PROTs are fundamental and structuring instruments for regional planning. They are of the utmost importance because they define vectors for regional development, taking into consideration the policies of the National Programme for Town and Country Planning (PNPOT), other than conditioning more local plans, such as the Municipal Structure Plans (PDM).

Let us imagine an underdeveloped transportation or a poorly structured urban growth. This is where the PROTs come in because they make it possible to establish vectors to improve these aspects, working as a platform for the progress of regions and cities, and establishing the location of industrial economic activities, agricultural activities and touristic development. The aim is simple: avoid unbalances between the regions through the definition of new rules for the use and exploitation of the territory and preservation of natural resources. Lastly, it is possible to have a vision on the most necessary investments for the region.

The platform developed by INESC Porto 

In 2006, INESC Porto developed a collaborative platform for the elaboration and public discussion of the PROTs. The creation of a PROT constituted a long and complex process, involving relevant players of the regions in question (Public, Local, and Central Administration) and other private entities, where the documents to be discussed would have to be sent by mail. Thus, a possible delay in the mail could render the discussion of important subjects impossible, as well as the presence of important members.

Accessible through the internet, supporting workflows associated to the elaboration and public discussion of PROTs, INESC Porto’s platform makes it possible to structure the different contributions from the several teams involved, including experts on several themes, such as Economy, Agriculture, Tourism, Energy, Urban Planning, Transportation, etc.). At the same time, it is possible disseminate these contributions and discuss them with players (groups of about 300 entities) involved in regional development. At the public discussion phase, it is possible to collect and organise contributions of the general public, being available 24 a day, seven days a week.

Faster processes and reduced costs 

INESC Porto’s role in the elaboration of the PROTs was double. On one hand, INESC Porto developed and supported a collaborative platform for the elaboration and public discussion of PROTs; on the other hand, in some PROTs, it participated in the technical teams due to its expertise in Information and Communication Technologies (PROT-OVT) and New Technologies (PROT-N). The great advantage with this platform is the elimination of contributions of the technical teams and regional players written on paper and their circulation, thus making it possible to create a PROT faster and enabling more interaction between theme teams and regional players.

Other than time gains, according to António Gaspar, coordinator of the Information and Communication Systems Unit (USIC), the unit responsible for the development of the collaborative platform, “the money that was saved was enough to pay for the project. The great advantage is the fact that is it possible to perform public discussions through the Internet, being available throughout the entire legal deadline of the discussion”. The results are clear: we are now a lot more open to society, and can receive more contributions, not only from experts, but also from the general public. This is what we call “digital democracy”, where a bigger and better civic intervention is promoted.

Collaborative platform for the PROT: an idea to export?

Having reached the most part of the country, the question now stands: will more regions use PROTs and is it possible to export this idea? According to António Gaspar, one thing seems certain: “this type of tool will be broadly used in the future, whether it is the solution developed by INESC Porto, or others. The benefits were so clear that those responsible for its development will not give it up”, he adds. Furthermore, “it is always possible to replicate this concept abroad, but it is necessary to know the countries’ different legal systems”.

The coordinator of USIC also highlights that it is possible to apply this tool in other processes within public administration and private activity, where there has been some success. “There is even a private entity, the Associação de Turismo de Lisboa (Lisbon Tourism Association), that uses a platform of this kind developed by us. We have also been working in the creation of other more specific collaborative platforms, using wikis, as is the case of Wipro Retail, for which we are developing a knowledge base for the elaboration of project presentations”. It is following this path that INESC Porto intends to evolve, António Gaspar explains. “Replicating the solutions of the PROTs in other areas, particularly public administration, and developing solutions that are technologically innovative in emerging areas, always striving to add value to companies and institutions is the way to go”, the researcher defends. Another example is the protocol that INESC Porto signed with the Associação Nacional de Freguesias – ANAFRE (National Association for Local Cities) last May for the development of an Integrated Local City Management System (SIGFREG), which supports the administrative modernization of Local City Centres, using similar tools.

BIP has asked the main users of the collaborative platform developed by INESC Porto to give some feedback on the PROTs and to explain to what extent this platform has become an asset for the regions and processes:

Ana Veneza (PROT-C) – “Without this platform, contacts between all major players would have taken longer and they would have cost a lot more because the amount of documents  is extremely high and thus the whole process is less reliable. This is an important aspect because the elaboration of the PROT is also an administrative process where we have to make the information available to the Municipal Council of Coimbra within strict legal deadlines. At the same time, the process would have been more demanding in terms of internal human resources. It is important to highlight that by enabling an open communication between all players, the collaborative platform made the process of elaborating a PROT more transparent”.

Rosa Cortez (PROT-N) – “The Collaborative Platform for the PROT proved to be a fundamental tool, not only in terms of the elaboration phase of the Regional Plan for Town and Country Planning of the North region – since this plan includes 17 theme teams whose coordination, interaction and information were only possible in the short amount of time that we had because of the Platform designed by INESC Porto –, but also in terms of the relationship with the Joint Coordination Commission that includes more than one hundred public and private entities. The platform was crucial in the Plan’s public consultation phase, allowing more people to participate, and reaching a large number of participants and players".

Vital Rosário (PROT-OVT and PROT-AML) – “The Collaborative Platform developed by INESC Porto was a decisive factor for the success of the PROT-OVT, working as a communication base between the different players within the Plan. With this tool, it was possible to reduce efforts and time, two aspects that are crucial for a work of this nature. Therefore, it was complimented by the several quadrants participating in the elaboration of the PROT-OVT, and therefore CCDR-LVT decided to follow the same path for the PROT of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, currently under development”.

The Platform seen by its creators

Mário Jorge Leitão (director of INESC Porto)

BIP – Do you think that the experience of developing this platform brought new competences to INESC Porto or was this just a way to improve the competences that INESC Porto already had?

MJL – I can say that both options are true. These projects were possible because there were, in fact, maturing internal competences for the constitution of an integrated platform to support INESC Porto’s intranet and website. However, the additional requirements of a system to support collaborative work in the context of the PROTs, involving hundreds of users and institutions, called for the development of new functionalities that ended up being adopted internally.

On the other hand, it was possible to improve a methodology to specify this type of platforms. The active involvement of the users, combined with the technological capacities that were achieved in the meantime, made it possible to open a front for us to provide innovative services to other public entities. Thus, other projects were possible and this was, in fact, the new competence that the PROTs project originated.

José Carlos Sousa (Management Information Service -SIG)

BIP – Considering that the type of work you did prior to the development of the platform was slightly different, what new competences did you acquire with this work?

JCS – When the first PROT started, SIG was already evaluating a base platform for the development of INESC Porto’s website. When the requirements specification was presented to us, we used that same Zope/Plone platform and introduced new functionalities to improve the collaboration, such as the notification service for the platform’s members and groups. It is important to highlight that there are about 1000 members, 80 groups and a total of 8GB of information within the PROTs. We are still supporting the PROTs that haven’t been concluded, and I would like to highlight the enormous professionalism and availability that Rúben Moreira, collaborator from SIG, has shown. Based on the experience that we have gained, SIG has developed, thus far, about 30 platforms/websites for internal and external projects.

Paulo Melo (USIC)

BIP – What did you find most difficult, challenging and rewarding in the development of the PROT platform?

PM - I participated in the Platform for the PROTs in a stage when the project was already mature and the major difficulties had already been overcome. The greatest challenge was guaranteeing that the service was always operational during public consultation. The greatest reward was getting to the public consultation phase without major problems.