A team co-led by Dr. Jiangbo Yu, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at 涩里番, and Dr. Sameer Borwankar, Assistant Professor of the Desautels Faculty of Management, has been awarded the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) 2024 Exploration Grant for an interdisciplinary initiative that will explore how artificial intelligence can transform the way citizens engage in public decision-making.
The proposed project, titled 鈥�Asynchronous Participation for Inclusive Community Planning,鈥� aims to reimagine civic engagement in Canada by developing an AI-powered platform designed to help diverse and marginalized communities participate more meaningfully in decisions related to public infrastructure and services.
Yu (Principal Investigator) and Borwankar (Co-Principal Investigator) will collaborate with Dr. Elizabeth Bloodgood, Professor in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University, and Dr. Jinhua Zhao, Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
鈥淥ur goal is to make public consultation more inclusive and representative,鈥� said Yu. 鈥淲e are developing an AI platform that will allow people from all walks of life, not just those who can attend town halls or fill out lengthy surveys, to have their voices heard in shaping the future of their communities.鈥�
AI for inclusive civic engagement
The project will design and test a novel AI-aided participatory planning system that integrates both human and machine intelligence. The platform will include AI-assisted digital representatives, virtual personas capable of representing individuals who cannot or prefer not to participate directly in public consultations. These digital representatives will interact with real community members, policymakers and public agencies to facilitate two-way dialogue, provide technical clarifications and help reconcile differing perspectives.
Unlike traditional consultations that rely on in-person meetings or static surveys, the proposed system will enable asynchronous participation, allowing citizens to engage at their own pace and in their own language. The research team also plans to develop an AI-powered facilitator to mediate discussions, counter misinformation and promote constructive dialogue in a variety of policy contexts.
Collaboration with Montreal institutions
The project will be carried out in collaboration with various non-profit organizations to ensure that the platform addresses real-world challenges in public infrastructure and remains accessible to communities with varied literacy levels, resources, and digital access.
The research will unfold in three main stages:
- developing an AI-aided conversational system to gather community input;
- creating AI-powered digital representatives that reflect diverse community voices;
- and designing interventions for collective intelligence, focusing on identifying and mitigating misinformation and bias in civic participation.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not just using AI for efficiency,鈥� said Borwankar. 鈥淲e鈥檙e using it to make governance more equitable, transparent, and human-centered.鈥�
Transformative potential across sectors
Still in its early stages, the project represents the start of an ambitious exploration into how AI can support more inclusive, accessible and responsive governance. By merging artificial intelligence with civil infrastructure and political science, the 涩里番-led team aims to challenge traditional paradigms of civic engagement and position AI as a partner in democracy, rather than a replacement for human agency.
The researchers hope their work will pave the way for a new model of civic participation鈥攐ne that not only strengthens Canadian communities but also serves as a framework for inclusive, technology-enabled governance around the world.
