VOTA is a neo-analog tool to simplify the process of data collection and participation in city planning processes:

On the walk to work, you find new construction works have sprung up overnight, causing an annoying diversion. Things like this can make you feel like the city is not your own. However, from 2020 onwards, it will become law for town planning procedures to involve residents.

Some residents are already involved in the consultation process, but typically an imbalance emerges when recruiting. Various groups are often underrepresented: women, the very young and very old, people with less formal education, and first or second generation immigrants. Some of the reasons for this are language barriers, doubts about their own competence and lack of time to participate. Online surveys, while more inclusive in theory, are manually evaluated, therefore the number of participants is limited to avoid high processing costs. This results in consequential errors, and ultimately means that the wishes of many local residents are not taken into consideration when undertaking new public construction projects.

VOTA combines analog and digital elements to simplify the process of data collection and make participation in planning processes more attractive and enjoyable.

A large-format poster attracts the attention of regular passers-by, encouraging you to notice a site up for development. A smart column sends a signal to your smartphone to load a simple, image-based survey interface. The survey is quick to complete, and automatically evaluates your response. It also shows current results and asks you for participation in further planning stages. Stickers are then dispensed from the column to visualize your preferences, and you can stick these onto the poster to express your opinion in a creative way - the resulting collage thereby invites more passers-by to take part.