City of Rotterdam

Contact:

Mme. Esmeralde Marsman
Process Manager

Zoé Martial
Inclusive service designer
https://www.rotterdam.nl

Profile

In some neighborhoods in Rotterdam 30% of the people is low literate. These citizens have difficulty with information, both digitally and on paper. Therefore, we offer all kinds of help so that our citizens become skillful in reading and using the computer.

However, working on skills is not enough. The City works to make its digital services simpler as well and develops a strategy in which it focuses on 9 elements in digital services such as “personal, easy, digital by choice“. It leads for ex. to innovative digital letters with pictures.

The City of Rotterdam sees the smart city development as a huge opportunity for digital inclusion. It facilitates and boosts e-health developments. The smart city program has as goal that Rotterdam becomes an inclusive and sensible smart city. The City implements a human centered approach in the further development of the smart city.

Role of the organization in the project

Rotterdam will focus on people with a disability, which is an important issue in the city. Rotterdam works closely together with citizens and NGOs to improve the digital services and to make the city more inclusive for all. The digital society can give many opportunities to people with a disability (For ex., advantages of voice assistants and digital route services to travel from one part of the city to another).

For these reasons, the City of Rotterdam will be in charge of the seminar on the disabled persons, the digital divide and citizenship (January 2022).