Tools

All tools with a focus on: Evidence / Vision / Action

Collecting data about parking occupancy

Opponents of street transformation often claim, that there are to little parking possibilities. But is that true? Evidence in Ljubljana showed that the city has rather a problem with how parking space is unevenly occupied. The urban design studio prostorož suggested the following steps to collect data about parking space occupancy.

define the area of observation (street / block / neighbourhood)
prepare the site plan of all the parking spots you will observe / have access to, regardless of ownership
set a hypothesis (e.g. parking is occupied by employees, not generating income for local shops)
create an observation plan: check occupancy one Wednesday and Saturday; and granular occupancy of observed parking lots every 2 hours, starting from 5 AM to 12:00 PM
graphically present data and interpret results

Community mapping

Collaboratively mapping maps about a neighbourhood can shed light on factors that influence everyday transport-related decisions.

Crowd Funding

Crowdfunding — and specifically civic crowdfunding — is an approach where communities, individuals, and organizations collectively finance local public projects through online platforms, often in combination with contributions from municipalities, foundations, or companies.

Efficient decision making in low hierachy settings

Sociocracy is a governance and decision-making method designed to enable self-organization in groups and organizations without traditional top-down authority. Rather than relying on majority votes or hierarchical decisions, sociocracy is based on the consent principle: a decision is valid as soon as no member of the circle has a serious, well-founded objection — meaning arguments count, not the number of votes.

Making processes in public administration more transparent

Mapping of relevant workflows within the public administration to identify critical points / steps.

New local collaborations to boost change!

Lack of funding or stuck in slow processes? Maybe a local collaboration can boost your vision to the next level! That happened to the Galileigasse in Vienna. Thanks to a collaboration between the district Alsergund, the Technical University Vienna and the LA21 the schoolstreet was completely transformed. A team of city planning and architecture students, their teachers and one carpenter planned and built the tactical urbanism elements within one semester. The district covered the cost for the material. The project cost a fracture of what it would have cost if a team of professional carpenters had done it.

Onboarding framework

The Onboarding Framework is a structured yet flexible tool designed to help grassroots civil society initiatives welcome and integrate new volunteers with as little friction as possible.

The framework helps initiatives answer three core questions: What does a new volunteer need to know, feel, and do to get started? Where do their skills and interests fit best? And how can the organization make that first step feel easy, welcoming, and worthwhile?

By providing a clear path from curiosity to commitment, the Onboarding Framework reduces dropout at the earliest stage, builds a sense of belonging from day one, and ensures that volunteer energy is channeled effectively — strengthening the initiative's capacity from the bottom up.

Presswork to spread your vision

Presswork helps you to spread your vision of change. With a little preperation and a good idea, your work could be covered in the local news by tomorrow. Attached you will find a guide in english and german for successful presswork.

Tools to help communicate within a group

Communication platforms like slack or discourse have dedicated channels for different projects and teams, keeping discussions focused and easily searchable. On the scale of a small initiative they don't cost anything.