Longford Nua
Longford NUA
Innovation in Politics Awards
Longford County Council were honoured to be part of the Innovation in Politics Awards 2019, the 3rd Innovation in Politics Awards which were presented in Berlin in December 2019. 80 finalists, including 8 from Ireland attended the Europe-wide Awards and participated in an international seminar on political innovation. Longford County Council were delighted to be finalists at the event and be part of this experience and presenting on the Longford Nua app that was developed with our local stakeholders, along with social enterprise Space Engagers, to enhance opportunities for local communities to engage with the Local Authority. Going forward we hope that this app will be beneficial to the Local Authority in engaging with our local communities in a mutually beneficial way. The finalists were selected by more than 1,000 Europeans who assessed the projects in an online evaluation. The aim of the Awards is to strengthen, further develop and inspire democratic politics. Longford Nua was one of the Irish projects that reached the finals. Longford County Council was represented by Cllr. Seamus Butler, Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District, John McKeon, Head of Finance and Lorraine O’Connor, Regeneration Officer.
Cllr. Séamus Butler tells us about the Longford Nua project
Longford NUA
Longford Nua is a mapping project aimed to improve citizen engagement in the operation and service delivery of the Local Authority. It was initially developed by Space Engagers, working with Longford Regeneration and community stakeholders as a downloadable app and has been updated by Longford County Council as a web based app to enhance access and usability.
Longford Nua gives local people the opportunity to share stories about places in Longford and make suggestions about how some of them could be reused. The aim of the app is to generate useful information that is distributed over a large amount of the population and gather it together so we can tell the positive story of Longford and the opportunities that exist here.
There are three elements to the app – past, present and possible – giving the people of the town an opportunity to tell us their stories, changing the narrative on the positive attributes of the town and identifying opportunities for potential new uses, to involve them in the conversation about the possibilities.
Why engage with Longford Nua?
Using Longford Nua, it helps us gather useful information that is distributed throughout a wide population. Telling a story about a building or place in your town keeps that story alive and allows more people to engage with it. It contributes to changing the narrative around Longford and all the positive things that are on offer here. New ideas can be developed and discussed among users and the community can become involved in finding new solutions to an existing problem.
Click link below to the Longford Nua App to begin your engagement.
