Lego bricks help engagement team build good relationships with citizens
The City of Vancouver has a powerful new tool to teach residents about matters of municipal governance — Lego.
Staff, with help from the Vancouver Lego Club, have packaged dozens of 58-piece miniature models of city hall that they plan to give away in a bid to encourage more people to use their online survey site, Talk Vancouver.
Talk Vancouver is managed by Vision Critical.
Staff have been displaying Lego creations at recent events to encourage people to chime in on topics like the 2017 budget (the city wants to hike rates 3.4 per cent).
Amanda Gibbs, head of public engagement for the city, explained that the building blocks have helped staff reach people who might not normally offer their thoughts on political issues — particularly children, youth and young adults.
“We really need to think about how to create an invitation that’s meaningful to those folks, and this may seem like a small thing, but it sends a signal that this isn’t all about insiders or people who know how the system works,” Gibbs said. “It’s just a playful way to invite people.”
Experiences at recent events suggest this playful new approach is working, Gibbs said.
As might be expected, kids flock to the Lego models. And close behind them are parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters.
For staff members like Gibbs, that creates an opening to speak to a wider group of people.
“Everybody’s trying to reach the public — engage the public.,” she said.
“You see people with pamphlets and everyone walks by. They’re like, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to do your survey,’ ” she said. “But you create this invitation and people have real conversations.”
Staff now hope the Lego creations will boost the number of people who sign on to Talk Vancouver, the city’s primary method of reaching residents who can’t attend events in person.
About 12,000 people are already signed up as Talk Vancouver panel members.
In all, 50 sets of Lego will be handed out before Christmas to people who sign up.
The Lego model of city hall was designed by Sean Martinez, a financial analyst at the city and a member of the Vancouver Lego Club. His first model — designed for a display at the Lego store in Oakridge — included hundreds of pieces and was about five times larger.
Pierre Chum, another member of the club, tracked down all the pieces. He said he had to go to three different sources to get enough pieces for all the sets — at a cost that fit the city’s budget. Each set cost the city about $15, Gibbs said.
The city is already considering replicating other municipal buildings like schools and libraries with Lego blocks to reach even more residents.