Designing Civic Engagement

A Free, Self-Paced Online Learning Module

Design better civic engagement—and make it matter.

What does it take to design civic engagement that works?

City leaders across the world want more meaningful ways to engage their communities—but even the best intentions can fall flat without thoughtful design. This free, self-paced module helps you get it right. Through a case study on Bologna, Italy, a set of conceptual frameworks, and an interactive experience, you’ll explore how to improve your city’s civic engagement efforts by aligning goals, participants, and process design.

Created by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, this online module brings rigorous, interactive, and practical learning to a global audience of public leaders, community partners, and students of public leadership and management. It is designed to support individuals doing or interested in understanding the hard work of civic engagement—no matter where they are or when they’re able to participate.

Whether you’re launching a new engagement initiative, strengthening a long-standing program, or simply seeking to develop your civic engagement skills, this experience helps you sharpen your focus, avoid common pitfalls, and build trust with residents.

Why Take This Module?

• Learn from a compelling real-world case: Travel virtually to Bologna, Italy—a city that turned civic frustration into innovation through creative public partnerships, participatory budgeting, and the launch of a Civic Imagination Office.
• Get the tools to design smarter engagement: Use the Participation Pathways Framework to align the why, what, who, and how of civic engagement. Explore different goals—from advancing equity to mobilizing resources—and learn to match them with the right methods.
• Apply the learning to your own work: Put theory into practice through interactive questions, guided self-assessments, and an opportunity to draft an engagement design tailored to your city’s context.
• Scale up the impact: This module was created to expand access to our curriculum. It’s part of our broader effort to reach practitioners around the world who may not be able to join our in-person programs, but who are doing the hard work of public problem-solving every day, as well as students and others interested in learning about civic engagement strategies.

What You’ll Learn

• What city leaders can accomplish through civic engagement—and why some efforts fail.
• How to clarify your purpose and design engagements that align with that purpose.
• What elements of civic engagement to consider—goals, topics, participants, and tools.
• How to identify and avoid common design pitfalls that can lead to disappointment or distrust.

How It Works

• Flexible format: Complete the module in two to three hours at your own pace.
• Built for active learning: Read a 7-page teaching case and analyze how Bologna reimagined civic engagement by investing in trust, collaboration, and shared responsibility.
• Multiple ways to engage: Explore design questions through knowledge checks, open-ended prompts, and scenario-based exercises, and receive instant feedback on your answers.
• Personal application: Draft your own civic engagement plan using our city leader guide to support future design efforts.
• Concrete takeaways: Leave with a personalized action plan and a downloadable summary sheet for future reference.

Who Should Take It?

This module is for city leaders, public servants, policy advisors, analysts, and anyone looking to lead more effective engagement efforts; policy advisors and department heads charged with improving resident participation; civic engagement teams, community organizers, and public servants at all levels of government; and students of public leadership, urban studies, participatory governance, and community organizing.

Whether you’re early in your civic engagement journey or looking to refine existing strategies, this module offers a powerful and practical way to strengthen your work.

Ready to get started?

Take the next step in becoming a more effective civic engagement leader.

Register and begin learning

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