International project Communicating town[Mezinárodní projekt Komunikující město]

The main objectives of the project Communicating Town is to assist in an improvement of mutual relationships and communication between the council and the public. The use of opinion polls provide an opportunity for the silent majority of citizens to voice their views. The standardised interviews make it possible to get the respondents involved in communication activities. Each questionnaire had two parts; the first sought opinions on questions asked by the council in the given town and the other part was common to all the towns involved and allowed us to compare and make general conclusions. The results were presented in the press. During 1995-2000 nearly fifty towns in the Czech Republic and Slovakia participated in the project Communicating Town. The ten years of study within the framework of the project have demonstrated that this project can provide valuable contributions to many aspects of council and town policies. With each year, further towns have shown an interest in involvement in the project. The results from Brno, Loštice and Zlín, i.e., towns where opinion surveys were repeated at intervals of between one and four years, indicate that the relationships between citizens and the council have improved.