Leuven has the best city government website

Our biggest eGovernment client is the city of Leuven. During the 5 years we've been working on building, maintaining and optimizing the city's interactive communication, we had the opportunity to continuously tinker and improve the city portal. All credits due to our client here, who constantly confronts us with problems challenges and shortcomings.

Today research bureau Indigov presented their annual Monitor Local Governments, based on a research amongst the 327 Flemish and Brussels local governments. Leuven ended second in the overall ranking (after the municipality of Zomergem), but it tops the ranking of Flemish cities (with Ghent ranked 6th, Bruges ranked 8th and Ostend ranked 10th.

Indigov concludes that Flemish local governments still have a long way to go and I guess I can agree with this analysis. Jo Steyaert, head of Indigov says that the major problem still is a matter of lack of will and knowledge on a political level.

It struck me that so little local governments have a rating on the eCommunity index. I quote Indigov:

We have the impression that for a number of governments the world ends at the borders of the town square and the municipal football field. The initiatives we see on local governmental websites all arise from the administration, not from "the rest" of the local community.

I guess that's good news for me: My book entitled "From City Council Website towards Digital City" (Dutch) still has a future. Which isn't obvious when you write about a medium that is evolving at warp speed.

Link: www.indigov.be
Link: Removed from my "things to do in life"-list: To write a book