Exploring the connection between the existence of local web communities and civic activity: St. Petersburg case study

Abstract

Active development of information and communication technologies in recent decades has significantly affected modern life in cities. Civil society has obtained e-participation tools, such as tools for sending electronic appeals on problems of the urban environment to the authorities to initiate their solving. At the same time, local web communities have emerged and are now widely spread due to social media. Within the framework of the research, it was suggested that the number and concentration of appeals on problems of the urban environment in individual local areas could be directly related to the existence of active web communities of residents in these territories. To test this hypothesis, appeals sent by residents of St. Petersburg for 2 years were analyzed. As a result, zones of high and low civic activity were identified, and local communities existing within the boundaries of these zones were studied. The hypothesis regarding the connection between the existence of local web communities in a certain urban area and civic activity was confirmed. At the same time, no clear correlation was identified between the headcount of local web communities and the number of appeals sent by residents of the territories to which these local communities belong. Further studies using alternative sources of appeals and new territories as examples will make it possible to supplement the existing data and to obtain a more accurate assessment of the relationship of the described factors.