Digital government between technology and participation: An analysis of urban platforms' design

Digital platforms are the most visible output of public policies in the field of digital government and open government. The aim of this research paper is twofold: 1) to investigate how local administrations are designing digital platforms in terms of management, technical design and decision-making; and 2) to assess the impact of digital technologies on participatory processes. We collected and analysed 280 participatory platforms set up by city councils in Italy, Spain and UK. The results show that the three countries heavily differ as to management styles and participatory design; on the contrary, they partially converge on technical design, thus suggesting that technology alone is not inducing a disruptive change, since its influence is mediated by already-existing features of different socio-political contexts.