Street fixing application for better public spaces
Name of initiative: Járókelő (Passer-by)
URL: www.jarokelo.hu
Organisation form: Non-profit organisation
Country: Hungary
Domain: Other (urban spaces, street maintenance)
Starting year: 2012
Keywords: urban development, street maintenance, citizen science, citizen empowerment, active citizens

Hungarian street-fixing or maintenance application, which is the Hungarian version of the UK platform “Fix My Street”, inspired by its Slovakian counterpart. The application enables passers-by to report street infrastructure problems or malfunction and subsequently inform the relevant department within local authorities. Notifications range from water leaks to bad signposting, from street potholes to malfunctioning public lighting. It was originally launched in 2012, as a localised version of ‘Letter to the Mayor’ (Odkaz pre starostu) run by Slovak Governance Institute, a Slovak NGO.
Járókelő.hu itself does not answer complaints: it facilitates a platform for citizens to report local problems, either via a web interface or mobile application. When passers-by encounter a problem like broken street lights or illegal waste-dumping, they take a picture, upload it on to the platform, select the appropriate label, and complement the report with a short description about the issue. The report is reviewed by administrators of the website, and it is sent to the local government or service provider by email, which is subsequently shown on the website, to inform the users as well as the response from the local office. The submissions are tracked as “solved”, “unsolved” and/or “in progress” on the website enable the users to follow the progress of the whole process. The main difference between Járókelő and other platforms, such as “Fix My Street” is that the official answers are made public.