Det finns ett behov och ett ökat intresse att tillåta civilsamhället vara delaktiga i byggprocessen. Medborgardeltagande och medborgardialog är metoder som används för att visa på att invånare är med och bestämmer om sin närmiljö. I teorin framställs det som att metoder likt dessa hjälper till i skapandet av ett demokratiskt samhälle. I praktiken ställer sig invånarna fortfarande frågande till vilken stadsutveckling som sker i deras närmiljö. I den här uppsatsen har vi undersökt alternativa metoder för medborgardeltagande. Vi har utgått från litteratur som tar upp olika metoder för deltagande, så som temporär användning och transformativt deltagande. Syftet för oss har varit att se till hur konstprojekt kan användas som en alternativ metod för deltagande och dialog. För att göra det har vi gjort en fallstudie över konst- projektet Mitt framför näsan i Jordbro kultur- och föreningshus, vilket var del av Statens konstråds satsning Konst händer. Genom att undersöka Mitt framför näsan ville vi se om projektet även har påverkat planeringsprocessen för det nya kulturhuset som ska byggas i Jordbro och vad de involverade aktörernas avsikt var. Utifrån vår kartläggning av Jordbro kultur- och föreningshus samt Mitt framför näsan undersöker vi om konstprojekt kan användas för att skapa delaktighet i stadsutveckling. Resultatet av vårt undersökande visar en större svårighet att engagera medborgare än vad vi först trodde. Där byråkratiska frågor och bristande kommunikation försvårar arbetet. Och även om vi inte fått konkreta svar på våra frågor så ställer vi oss positiva till konstprojekt som metod för delaktighet. / There is a need and interest to let the citizens be part of city planning. Civic participation and civil dialogue are methods which are used to show that citizens can participate in the decision making of their neighbourhood. In theory these methods seem to help the making of a democratic society. In practice people ask themselves what kind of urban renewal happens in their neighbourhood.In this thesis, we have examined alternative methods for civic participation. We have looked at literature concerning different methods of participation, such as temporary use and transformative participation. The purpose, for us, has been to look into how art projects can be used as a way of creating participation and dialogue. To do this, we have done a case study of the art project Mitt framför näsan in Jordbro cultural and social housing, which was part of the project Konst händer, produced by Statens konstråd. By looking into Mitt framför näsan, we wanted to discover if the project have affected the urban planning concerning the new cultural and social housing, and what the purpose was, for the actors involved in the project. By mapping Jordbro cultural and social housing, we examine if art projects can be used as a way to create participation in urban planning. The result shows that it is more difficult to involve citizens in civic participation, than what we first thought. Where bureaucratic questions and the lack of communication makes it complicated. Even if we do not have a concrete answer to our questions, we are positive about using art project as a method for civic participation.

The master thesis focuses on citizen participation and how to support it with the application of ICT. Due to its recent publicity, blockchain and its features have been investigated and were related to the citizen participation domain. A qualitative research study has been conducted to explore the perceptions of citizens relating to blockchain. Based on those findings suggestions for improvement of citizen participation were provided. More specifically, a focus group interview has been conducted in the Swedish municipality of Växjö. Probes have been used to encourage the participants to follow unexpected thoughts to provide creative answers and to start a dialogue between the group and the researcher. The gathered data from the focus group interview was then analyzed with an iterative coding process. This process yielded a list of seven concepts which bundle the following aspects mentioned by the participants in the group interview: Accessibility, Flexibility and Responsiveness, Trust, Accountability vs Privacy, Adaption, Representation, and Collaboration. The concepts are referring to the use of blockchain in the context of citizen participation. They have been discussed later on, based on the contextual framework built on the topics ICT, blockchain, citizen participation, and soft systems methodology. A literature review was conducted to build this framework. The discussion summarizes how the citizens perceive blockchain and how it can support their participation within a municipality context. The perceptions include concerns relating to privacy, hopes of improved information infrastructures with open data formats, as well as that blockchain could modernize democracy. The forms of blockchain systems which could support citizen participation comprise aspects such as that it could lead to transparent and traceable investment flows for participative planning and controlling, as well as that it could help to identify bad players when collaborating with each other. In the last parts, issues of citizen empowerment are discussed as a result of the previous parts of the discussion about citizens' perceptions and the forms blockchain could have for them. This research aims to contribute to current research on citizen participation supported by ICT. It means to promote developments towards higher degrees of citizen power, by providing citizens' views on blockchain and the forms of participation it could support.

Public organisations account for their performance by making annual reports available to the public. While such increased emphasis on performance leads to a greater awareness of annual reports, it also raises the question of whether performance information is relevant and effective for accountability purposes. This qualitative study uses the Critical Realism approach to assess the contribution of performance reports in making municipalities more responsible; and their managers accountable for achieved and failed service delivery targets. Content and thematic analyses are applied to the collected data following case studies on the metropolitan cities of Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, and Tshwane in Gauteng, South Africa. The findings are that despite poor quality issues in reports, there is no link between performance and accountability. In other words, while performance reports have the capacity to correctly provide actual performance data, they are not used to hold public managers to account. Generally, politicians from underdeveloped countries are elected based on popularity rather than ability, hence they are reluctant to utilise performance reports, instead they tend to keep those public managers who look after their interest despite failures. Therefore, lack of consequences, complex governance systems, and passive citizenry, create a safe zone for both councillors and public managers to remain unaccountable. Further studies are recommended on empowering communities and accountability of councillors to citizens. / Business Management / M. Phil (Accounting Sciences)