The Bilbao Urban Neighbourhood Observatory is an instrument that enables detecting local needs which are centrally relevant for the sustainable development of the city of Bilbao. It also allows monitoring the evolution of the life quality of the city and its neighbourhoods.

The SI-DRIVE researchers Garbiñe Henry (Head of Deusto Social Innovation Unit) and Jon Leonardo (Professor at University of Deusto) led the five-years development process of the instrument. On organisational level, the Municipality of Bilbao in collaboration with the Deusto Foundation was mainly responsible for the development process.

It clearly contributes towards a more socially innovative city, by combining the subjective data from the perceptions and needs of its citizens and more objective data, extracted from official statistics, in order to elaborate innovative policies and programs that better address those social needs.

This innovative research project was presented on the II. European Congress on Proximity, Participation and Citizenship, celebrated in March 2015. More information can be gathered here.