The use of Information technology and the internet for citizen´s participation purposes have given birth to e-participation.  

Two important phenomena have arisen that provide a fertile ground for e-participation; one is the increasing apathy of citizens to formal political processes and the second is the current developments in information and communication technologies that have allowed citizens and governments to connect in ways that were unthinkable years ago.

E-participation and e-government are intertwined and connected by the types of relationships offered by governments to the citizens and vice versa. Think about how the policies in your city are supporting all dimensions of e-participation.

Moreover, Boyd Cohen proposed a model representing three generations of Smart City:

• Smart City 1.0 is a city where representatives of technology companies (mainly IT) are trying to sell tools used so far in business.
• Smart City 2.0 is a city that defines a problem (e.g. garbage collection – like Rio de Janeiro before the Olympic Games) and asks technology companies to help solve the problem.
• Finally Smart City 3.0 is a city progressing as in generation 2.0, but engaging inhabitants in the decision-making process.

 

E-participation framework for public policy formulation proposed by Salamat, M. (2011).