CitizenVision: A Mobile App to Promote Citizen Engagement with Generative AI
Bridging Design Gaps with AI for Inclusive Urban Planning
CitizenVision is a generative AI-powered mobile app enabling citizens to visualize and share their urban planning ideas through an intuitive interface. This analysis highlights how GenAI can enhance participatory processes, reduce communication barriers, and foster creative engagement in community development.
Executive Impact: CitizenVision's Quantified Value
Traditional urban planning methods often fail to engage diverse populations due to reliance on complex forms and drawing skills. CitizenVision addresses this by using generative AI to enable visual articulation of ideas, improving user experience, and significantly boosting engagement. This leads to more inclusive and creative community-driven improvements.
80.13
CitizenVision SUS Score (Good)
1.93
CitizenVision UEQ-S Score (Excellent)
68%
Found App Natural/Inspiring
Deep Analysis & Enterprise Applications
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GenAI in Action
User Experience
Future Scope
CitizenVision leverages cutting-edge generative AI to transform textual prompts and masked areas in photos into realistic visualizations. This capability democratizes urban planning, allowing individuals without design skills to effectively communicate their ideas.
The app's design facilitates a seamless user journey, from project discovery to iterative idea refinement, ensuring that citizen input is both accessible and impactful. It builds on speculative designs by delivering a functional, tested prototype, as detailed in Figure 1.
The study demonstrated a marked improvement in user experience with CitizenVision compared to traditional paper-based methods. Participants reported lower workload, greater creative expression, and inspiration from community-generated ideas.
Key metrics like the System Usability Scale (SUS) and User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ-S) showed CitizenVision to be rated as 'Good' to 'Excellent' in comparison, particularly excelling in pragmatic and hedonic qualities, with a significant difference over paper forms (p<0.001).
Future enhancements for CitizenVision include integrating image annotation to explain AI-generated visuals, refining iterative design capabilities, and developing in-app prompting guidance for novice users. The system could also benefit from more robust project discovery and collaborative refinement features like advanced voting and commenting.
Further research is recommended to compare CitizenVision with VR/AR methods and to assess its performance in large-scale municipality-led pilots across diverse populations and projects, ensuring its adaptability and efficacy in real-world scenarios.
CitizenVision User Engagement Flow
Localize nearby projects
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Vote on community preferences
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Vote on community generated images
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Draw mask & add text prompt for generative fill
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Review or Re-generate visualization
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Share with community
| Feature | CitizenVision (GenAI-Powered App) | Traditional Paper-Based Method |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility |
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| Idea Articulation |
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| Engagement & Creativity |
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| Iteration & Refinement |
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| Community Interaction |
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P13
Participants valued AI-generated visualizations as 'very powerful' and 'better than drawing it yourself'.
Footnote: Direct participant quote: "AI really turns [the idea] into a complete picture. [...] You've visualized it and it looks better than if you had to draw it yourself."
Empowering Non-Designers in Urban Planning
CitizenVision successfully addressed the key challenges of traditional urban planning, particularly for individuals lacking drawing or technical skills. Participants, even those without prior design skills, were able to effectively communicate their visions.
As one participant (P13) stated, "AI really turns [the idea] into a complete picture. [...] You've visualized it and it looks better than if you had to draw it yourself." This direct feedback highlights the app's capability to democratize urban planning processes and allow a wider range of citizens to contribute meaningfully.
Fostering Creative Expression and Iteration
The study revealed that CitizenVision significantly enhanced user engagement by facilitating creative expression and iterative refinement. Unlike static paper submissions, the app allowed users to adjust their prompts and masks to improve generated outputs.
Participant P5 noted how the app "allowed [them] to pivot" even when initial ideas were unsuccessful, fostering a dynamic design process. Another participant (P4) highlighted the enjoyment, saying they "felt like [they] could convey [their] idea much better so and it was more fun to do it as well." These insights underscore GenAI's role in making planning more interactive and enjoyable.
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