Motivation for citizen e-participation in urban development: The case of “Our St. Petersburg” portal

Abstract

The article gives an overview of the literature on electronic participation in the urban development, the analysis of the main characteristics and principles of the portal “Our St. Petersburg” as one of the main platforms for electronic participation of the citizens. The purpose of this study is to develop recommendations for increasing the level of electronic participation of citizens in the urban development of St. Petersburg. Based on the data collected during the focus groups interviews as well as the survey of the portal users and those who do not use it, the main drivers and barriers to e-participation in urban development were identified, and the recommendations for increasing public participation were proposed. The cluster analysis made it possible to identify several groups of St. Petersburg residents with similar drivers and barriers to e-participation and formulate recommendations for improving e-participation of citizens on the basis of management of the Portal individual characteristics.