“When FMS was launched in 2013, the government’s main intention was to give citizens the feeling that they were being extended to them and to shorten the distance to administrative services,” explains Iris Steenhout. “The app offers citizens the opportunity to report nuisance or even minor crimes, which can then be submitted directly to the responsible municipal service.”

It took several years for the app to break through. It finally came in 2017. In the meantime, more than 50 reports are pouring in every day. “The vast majority of the reported incidents have to do with public cleanliness, successive problems with the street, such as damage to the road surface, open manhole covers, toppling traffic sign posts, and defects in public lighting,” Steenhout continues.

In general, the government intervenes quickly, although it closely monitors the type of incident that is reported. “Garbage is usually cleared within a three-day period. In the event of problems with the street furniture or the road itself, the waiting time can be up to 50 days.”

Steenhout’s research will take a total of four years to complete. The first two years are behind us. “During the first phase, we mainly asked the city services about, among other things, how information flows. We also conducted a small survey of about sixty respondents to see what they think of FMS and how often they use it.”

The first assessment already shows that the majority of the respondents are satisfied. “But there are also people who complain,” says Steenhout. “The fact that you install a digital platform where citizens can directly report incidents, the expectation that a solution will follow immediately. We also see that more and more social problems are being reported, such as nuisance around squats and cases related to the refugee problem.”

To better tailor the app to the needs of citizens, the researchers call for participation in a survey. “The results of this will be sent to the Brussels-Capital Region and the various municipalities that use FixMyStreet. The participants must, of course, be familiar with FMS and should already have used it,” adds Steenhout.