A Complex and Successful Online Consultation

Gatineau, located in western Quebec, is the fourth largest city in the province, with a population of approximately 300,000. It forms a dynamic urban hub situated across the river from the federal capital, Ottawa, on the other side of the Ottawa River. Marked by a duality between nature preservation and urban development, the city is interwoven with vast parks—including Gatineau Park—and integrates planning strategies focused on smart densification, sustainable mobility, and the revitalization of its historic village cores, such as those in the Aylmer and Hull sectors.

The Consultation

Consultation Steps

1. 2023:
   Initial steps taken in 2022–2023 allowed the creation of a participatory territorial diagnosis to characterize the sector based on citizen input across key themes such as urban form and function, environment, and mobility. An online consultation was conducted on the previous version of Cocoriko, alongside exploratory walks and discussion workshops.
2. 2024-2025:
   1. September 18, 2024: A visioning workshop to establish a shared vision for Old Aylmer.
   2. March 14 to 30, 2025: An online consultation inviting the public to share preferences and priorities regarding the urban planning of Old Aylmer.
   3. Summer 2025: An open house session to present the full Special Planning Program (PPU), along with an exhibit at the end of the process.

The main objective of the online consultation held from March 14 to 30, 2025, was to involve the community in defining concrete elements that would be integrated into the final draft of the PPU.

At the request of the Urban Planning and Sustainable Development Department, in collaboration with the Citizen Interaction Department, which wanted to address multiple topics and angles, the online consultation was designed in a more elaborate format with 37 questions divided into 7 sections. Given the complexity, and to make the questionnaire more engaging to a broader segment of the population, the City leveraged several of Cocoriko’s features:

• Ability to include multiple images (e.g., architectural types);

• An interactive map allowing residents to identify specific places within Old Aylmer;

• Comment areas that could be toggled on/off, enabling the collection of relevant insights;

• Additional information sections for those wishing to dive deeper into a topic before answering.

One of Cocoriko’s most interesting features for this type of consultation is that participants can return multiple times to complete the different sections at their own pace.

Marketing

The City of Gatineau has implemented a marketing approach for its consultations and other initiatives. For the PPU, the following actions were taken:

• Posts on social media

• Emails to partners;

• Radio advertisements;

• Displays on screens in municipal buildings and shopping centers;

• Dedicated webpage on the City’s website;

• Distribution of bookmarks at various public events in the Old Aylmer area;

• Presentations at commissions and workshops as agenda additions.

Expertise

The City benefited from a turnkey service to build and set up its online consultation using the Cocoriko platform. It also collaborated with the firm L’Atelier Urbain, which was hired to lead a transparent participatory process and to write the PPU itself. The firm provided content and structured the process. Cocoriko’s team worked with both the City and the firm to organize the platform's sections and develop questions aligned with Cocoriko’s formats. The result was a consultation that was both comprehensive and easy to navigate, collecting a wide range of perspectives.

Success

This more elaborate consultation prompted participants to reflect deeply before responding. The diversity of comments received is, according to the City, proof that people didn’t just “tick boxes.” The scope of the questions and the information shared along the way encouraged thoughtful engagement.

• The consultation had 184 participants, who collectively cast 5,259 votes.

• The results can be viewed on the City of Gatineau’s platform.

• The City wasn’t aiming for volume, but for depth of participation, and this objective was met by genuinely involving the community.

“The Cocoriko platform, with its images and varied question types, along with its openness to comments, allowed us to truly engage the community and achieve a depth of participation that goes beyond focusing merely on the number of participants.”
— Shauna-Louise Cameron, Coordinator – Public Consultation and Participation, Citizen Interaction Department, City of Gatineau.