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REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION

ISSN: 2146-0353 ● © RIGEO ● 11(8), SPRING, 2021


www.rigeo.org Research Article

Digital Transformation in Local


Governments: A Comparative Study
Mustafa Kocaoğlu Hikmet Salahaddin Gezici

Abstract
In recent years, digital transformation has been increasingly playing a role in shaping the field of public
administration. In order to meet the emerging demands and needs for social, economic, political, and
other areas, public administrations are more frequently resorting to innovative digital solutions. This
situation triggers a major digital transformation in public administration. Digital transformation in public
administration has gained momentum with the spread of the Internet, the rapid increase in mobile
devices, and the emergence of e-government activities that have been realized through web and
mobile applications. In this context, digital transformation reveals different issues and practices than in
the past, especially in the delivery of public service. Local governments, one of the leading actors in
public service delivery, are also deeply affected by digital transformation and make significant changes
in business and transaction processes. On the other hand, given that local governmental units are
considered more democratic because it provides a form of government suitable for citizen participation,
it is argued that digital transformation can also contribute significantly to the formation of more
democratic government. The opportunities offered by the digital transformation constitute increasingly
more attractive environments for democratic interactions between public service recipients and the
state. It can also be said that there is a close relationship between digital transformation and institutional
capacity development of local governments. The digital transformation experienced by local
governments has initiated a major change in citizen relations, internal and external stakeholders and
institutional level. Digital transformation makes the dynamic management of processes inevitably. In this
study, it is aimed to draw attention to how the digital transformation in the world has changed local
governments and to apply the comparisons within the framework of practices and to show how the
process works at practical level. In this context, it will be made several evaluations related to the issue by
examining the practices which were and will be made by the local governmental units in special to
Turkey.

Keywords: Digital Transformation, E-Government, Internet, Local Governments

To cite this article: Mustafa Kocaoğlu and Hikmet Salahaddin Gezici. (2021) Digital Transformation in Local Governments: A
Comparative Study. Review of International Geographical Education (RIGEO), 11(8), XXXX-XXXX. doi:
10.48047/rigeo.11.08.XXXX

Submitted: 09-10-2020 ● Revised: 11-12-2020 ● Accepted: 13-02-2021


Mustafa Kocaoğlu and Hikmet Salahaddin Gezici. (2021) Digital Transformation in Local Governments: A
Comparative Study.
Introduction
The basis of the struggle for existence throughout human history is to meet certain needs of
mankind. These needs are the most fundamental determinant of human history from the past to
the present and even cause the emergence of some social stages. The transition from a hunter-
gatherer (primitive) society to an agrarian society, from an agrarian society to an industrial society,
and from an industrial society to an information society, is the result of human development and
the struggle to always achieve better, and this becomes an important part of the effort to meet
its new needs. The prominent factor in all of these social stages is knowledge. Knowledge triggered
the development of new skills in the agricultural society, and came to the fore as a determining
factor in the emergence of new inventions, especially the steam engine in the industrial society.
On the one hand, the need for knowledge increases more than ever before in the industrial
society, and a new information-oriented era starts in which knowledge is produced and
consumed with the development of technology at a dizzying pace on the other hand.
With the transition to the information society, information having become the only production
factor increasing as it is consumed like never before has continued to be the dominant factor in
the development of technology and especially internet technology. At this point, it is clearly seen
that the presentation of the internet to the use of dense population masses in a very wide
geography in the world has deeply affected the individual and even the institutions. Nowadays,
all these mentioned developments direct the entire social life of the individual while transforming
the business life at the same rate. All business processes and relations between stakeholders in
both private and public sectors are given a new shape; this situation leads to the emergence of
new approaches towards the target audiences of institutions.
All this technology-oriented change and transformation process has started to be evaluated in a
digital context and expressed as “digital transformation” in general terms. In the most general
sense, it is intended to explain the digitalization of all structures and business processes of
organizations that have to operate in information-based intense competitive environments with
digital transformation. As a matter of fact, new business fictions are made with the intention of
adapting to digital transformation, and strategies are developed so that it becomes possible for
institutions to provide services in a more transparent, participatory, accountable, qualified,
effective, and efficient manner, and thus satisfy the target audience who they serve.
The most important reflection of digital transformation, especially in public administration, is on
local governments. The most important reason for it is that the demand for services to local
governments of the dense population living in cities has increased more than ever. It is accepted
as an absolute necessity for local governments that were caught unprepared for this situation to
adapt to digital transformation in order to meet these demands and to ensure citizen satisfaction.
Besides, local governments that are the administrative units closest to the citizens attach
importance to digital transformation in terms of developing the culture of local democracy and
eliminating the trust problem that arises with the citizen and they struggle to implement it.
In this study, a theoretical and conceptual framework is drawn over the expression of “digital
transformation” firstly. Then, how the digital transformation takes shape from local governments is
examined within a historical process. Finally, how this transformation is reflected in the
implementation of digital transformation examples in local governments is discussed
comparatively; solution offers is developed for possible problem areas related to the subject.

Conceptual Framework
When evaluated from past to present in a historical process, it is seen that each of the social stages
is characterized by some developments that can be considered as turning points. Invention of the
steam engine in the industrial age reveals the first revolution; invention of the electricity, the
second revolution with mass manufacturing; the development of information, communication
technologies and automation, the third revolution; and the widespread use of digital and
autonomous systems, the fourth revolution (Xu, David, & Kim, 2018). In this context, it is seen that
the concepts of “digital”, “digitalization”, and “digital transformation” come to the fore in this
period when is expressed as ‘Industry 4’.
The concept of digital is of French origin according to the Dictionary of Turkish Language
Association (Иида, 2020)(www.sozluk.gov.tr, 2020) and it has three different meanings. The first of
these meanings is “numerical”. The second is “displaying data electronically on a screen”. The
© RIGEO ● Review of International Geographical Education 11(8), Spring 2021

third is “electronic display of data on a screen”. According to the Informatics Dictionary (Tat‐Kei
Ho, 2002) digital means “belonging to a data consisting of digits of numbers as well as processing
and functional units that use this data”. Digitalization is “the process of transition from analog to
digital form”. In addition, digitization means “using digital technologies to change a business
model and provide opportunities of new revenue and value generation”. On the other hand, it is
accepted as “using the information obtained to transform digital technologies and business
operations”(Yankin, 2019).
Considering the concepts of digital and digitalization and all these meanings of these concepts,
it is understood that the important issue is computerization. It is seen that computerization has
become widespread in a period of about fifty years and the main determinant of both social and
business life. In the next process, the development emerging more specifically and effectively in
the computerization process has been the invention of the internet technology and the worldwide
spread and intensive use of this invention in a short time. Thus, with the “world wide web” (www),
the digitization process has been used to describe not only a digitization but also social,
economic, cultural, etc. multifaceted transformation (Gil-Garcia & Dawes, 2007).
This new era, which is characterized by the fourth industrial revolution and can be expressed as
“digital transformation”, has also influenced the institutions in a versatile and intensive way. As a
matter of fact, digital transformation is defined as “the holistic transformation, realized by
institutions in human, business processes, and technology elements in line with the opportunities
offered by rapidly developing information and communication technologies and changing social
needs, in order to provide more effective and efficient service and to ensure beneficiary
satisfaction” (Yankin, 2019). In this respect, digital transformation is the exposure of institutions to
the multi-faceted change and transformation of information and communication technologies,
and in the most general sense it is “the use of digital technologies to change a business model
and provide new income and opportunities of value generation” (Gershenfeld & Vasseur, 2014).
Therefore, digital transformation is used to describe “the process of digitization in detail and the
holistic transformation of organizations in human, business processes, and technology elements in
order to provide more effective and efficient service and to ensure beneficiary satisfaction in line
with the rapidly developing information and communication technologies and changing social
needs of the digital transformation process” (Yankin, 2019).
However, it is not correct to limit this period to only smart and connected machines where the
internet is used in many ways. This emphasizes a process that involves more. All these technologies,
from gene sequencing to nanotechnology and from renewable resources to quantum
computing, are among the important characteristics of the process in mention. In addition, digital
transformation affects the whole world by intertwining and fusing in all physical, digital, and
biological fields, and it has a meaning different from the previous transformation parameters with
these aspects (Pittaway & Montazemi, 2020).
The holistic effects of information and communication technologies on the structures and business
processes of institutions in modern terms are also considered as digital transformation. The internet
in this process is actively involved in all business processes. This situation brings about the
establishment of virtual networks between social media and people and Internet of and objects
(ErdoĞAn, 2020; Gershenfeld & Vasseur, 2014) With the increase in internet use in business
processes, the internet is now becoming an indispensable element in the production, marketing,
and presentation of goods and services. In this new era, with the support of internet technology,
it decreases the costs on the one hand and increases the speed in terms of doing business,
designing, data production, storage, and sharing on the other hand. Another feature of the digital
transformation process is the formation of Big Data. Big data emerges as a result of the
development of Artificial a number of detection technologies, and the Internet of objects. This
situation brings along the frequent use of all these technologies in management and enables an
environment where almost the needs of people who are the target audience of the management
can be met very quickly and intensely
Finally, digital transformation applications are now frequently used not only in the private sector
(enterprises) but also in the public sector. Although the private sector is in a pioneering position to
implement digital transformation applications in all structural and functional processes, it is
understood that this transformation movement has also been noticed in the public sector over
time and application-based initiatives have been made to keep up with the transformation in
question. Moreover, it is seen that particularly local governments become at the center of digital
transformation practices at local and urban levels and digital transformation studies are carried
out with a competitive approach for citizen satisfaction.

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Mustafa Kocaoğlu and Hikmet Salahaddin Gezici. (2021) Digital Transformation in Local Governments: A
Comparative Study.

Digital Transformation in Local Governments

Public administrations change their face day by day, and the tend to gain organizational skills
which can respond to the demands and needs of the society quickly. Local governmental units
in many countries, especially in the developed countries, play a dominant role in this
transformation process. Local governments, as the units closest to the public, perform critical tasks.
They are obliged to closely follow current developments in order to quickly take decisions and
take action. At this point, it is understandable that local governments make serious efforts to
benefit from all the opportunities offered by digital transformation.
Local governments are the first authority to which individuals apply when they need something or
are faced with problems. There is a general assumption that the role of local governmental units
is to support the local community (Kreiss & Brennen, 2014). It is possible to define local
governments as units that effectively and efficiently offer local public goods and services. These
units make important contributions to the operation and development of local democracy as well
as providing services. Local governments form opportunities for non-governmental organizations
to take part in decision-making processes. In this framework, local governments are considered
to be the most appropriate actors in order to provide direct and fast local services (Mossberger,
Wu, & Crawford, 2013; Öztemel, 2018),
Local governments have all locally interrelated and articulated functions and services that are
locally offered. These functions and services often develop as a result of specific problems, events
or local conditions. Local governments are democratically responsible and understand the
importance of locality and place; they also have the ability to ensure a wide variety of services
and to establish partnerships with different institutions. It is envisaged that local governments focus
on providing locally generated funds in the future, especially when providing local services. It is
expected from local governments to mobilize digital opportunities to ensure citizens’ participation
in decision-making mechanisms. The use of web portals, kiosks, and phones to provide public
services stands in our way as an inevitable development (Mergel, Edelmann, & Haug, 2019;
Onursoy, Turan, Yeşilyurt, & Astam, 2020). All these developments necessitate a radical change in
the visions and roles of local governments.
Public administration units change their working-style with the objectives such as improving service
delivery, providing more efficient and effective operation of institutional processes, ensuring
effective participation, increasing transparency, improving relations with stakeholders, and
ensuring citizen satisfaction. Non-public digital transformation practices aimed at achieving all
these goals direct digital transformation in the public sector as important sources of inspiration.
Digital transformation in the public sector means new ways of collaborating with stakeholders,
reshaping public service delivery, and differentiating forms of relationships. However, there is not
much systematic empirical evidence on how public administrations currently define digital
transformation in their daily practice, how they approach digital transformation projects, and
what the expected results are. In this context, it is seen that such concepts as digitization or digital
transformation are used interchangeably in the literature (Kreiss & Brennen, 2014; Öztemel,
2018)(Mergel, Edelmann and Haug, 2019: 1).
Digital delivery of public services makes the daily lives of citizens easier, increases their satisfaction
with the fulfillment of their demands, and can enable their access to service providers. For just
these purposes, local governments resort to digital technologies in order to adapt their institutional
structures and public service production processes to the current conditions of the day. These
efforts and much more describe the process called “digital transformation”, which is now the main
agenda in the corporate roadmaps of most local governmental units. Local governments are in
an ideal position for the deliveries of digital public service by integrating the data of state, private
sector, and citizen. In order to integrate corporate processes within the framework of digital
transformation, it requires a fundamental fictional change. Many local governmental units in the
world cannot dare such radical transformations. It is observed that local governments generally
tend to apply new technologies without forming an integrated institutional system for process
management. The fact that corporate processes do not undergo a fundamental digital
transformation in an integrated manner and are directed to piecemeal digital solutions brings
some problems with it (Hüseyin, 2018; Karaca & ÖZtÜRk, 2019; Pittaway & Montazemi, 2020). As a
matter of fact, digital transformation occurs as a result of the combined effects of various digital
innovations that change the existing rules of the present order in the institutions and constitute
© RIGEO ● Review of International Geographical Education 11(8), Spring 2021

new actors, structures, practices, values, and beliefs (ErdoĞAn, 2020; Hinings, Gegenhuber, &
Greenwood, 2018).
It is possible to list the main issues that should be given importance regarding digital transformation
in local governments as follows (BİLbİL; ErdoĞAn, 2019).
• Digital local governments should be established within the framework of improving service
provision to citizens, establishing economic activity, and developing democracy.
• Digital local governments should be aimed at the citizens. It is essential to institutionalize e-
governance between units within the organization and between institutions outside the
organization in order to ensure that the citizen can receive the service in the most effective way.
• Digital local governments require the presence of digital citizens (e-citizens). In other words, it is
necessary to give opportunities for access to digital services not only for a limited number of
citizens having the necessary electronic infrastructure but for all citizens.
• Digital local governments could potentially build up an opportunity to restructure public service
processes. Digitizing the existing services alone may not produce the desired result. Because
digital transformation envisages changing all corporate processes in a radical and integrated
manner. The singularly digitization of these processes does not mean that it becomes negative.
• Digital local governments are responsible for providing electronic infrastructure (e-capacity)
where each party can gain competitive advantages. Establishing such a collaborative
environment can offer important opportunities for feasible and sustainable partnerships between
the private and public sector.
• It is essential that digital local governments develop ways and methods to eliminate the
concerns of private and legal persons regarding information security. Because the privacy of
personal information appears as one of the most important issues in today’s world. If it is sure that
the privacy of all stakeholders and individuals is maintained, they will be willing to use digital tools.
• The satisfaction of the public services to be provided will increase, when digital local
governments are aware of the cultural change coming with digitalization.

Digital Transformation Practices in Local Administrations


It is understood that digital transformation applications in local governments increase in terms of
quantity and quality during each passing day. It is seen that the local administration units act
sometimes in line with the needs and the demands determined by the local administration unit
and sometimes with the general policy of the relevant country, while local governments are
implementing these practices. On the other hand, the common purpose of these applications is
to increase the satisfaction of citizens by providing many services for citizens in a virtual
environment with less time, effort, and financial cost. It is possible to say that the efforts for
reinventing local governments with the opportunities provided by digital transformation(Alper,
2009; Asgarkhani, 2005) are carried out in almost every region of the world, albeit with varying
intensities.
One of the remarkable examples of digital transformation applications in local governments is in
the Netherlands. The Moolenward Municipality of the Netherlands (later named Molenlanden with
the participation of the municipality of Giessenlanden) stands out as an example that can be
given in this area. The most important feature of Moolenward Municipality is that it does not
physically have a municipal building and has the title of “the first digital municipality in the world”
as such. Due to the high cost of construction of a municipality building, the “municipality” was
established in a virtual platform and the services started to be provided in this way (ErdoĞAn,
2020)(Erdoğan, 2019: 70). It is possible to receive requests and complaints through the website of
the municipality, and these must be answered within a certain period of time. In addition, in cases
where identity verification is required for security reasons, such as passport, driver’s license, and
identity card requests, an appointment is made, and a meeting is held in a place designated
(www.molenlanden.nl, 2020). Apart from that, the officials visit the citizens by appointment when
it is necessary. The location, date, and agenda of the municipal council meetings are shared with
the citizens, and the meetings are held in a suitable place where everyone can easily participate.
In Molenlanden, the municipality uses “Microsoft cloud technology” in integration with “Office
365” and “Azure” services in the provision of digital services. In addition, communication with
citizens is carried out using “Skype”. The reason for choosing Microsoft in this area is stated to be
both cheaper and safer (BİLbİL) Apart from this, efforts are carried out in the field of waste
management, provided that it is in a digital environment; entrepreneur meter application was
introduced for local development projects; and also “discussion meetings” are held in order to
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Mustafa Kocaoğlu and Hikmet Salahaddin Gezici. (2021) Digital Transformation in Local Governments: A
Comparative Study.
bring the citizens and all relevant segments together. In addition, birth-death notifications and
birth-funeral procedures, “meeting and event organization”, “obtaining a workplace license”,
“vending permits”, and “games of chance license” can be obtained through the portal(Karaca
& ÖZtÜRk, 2019; Onursoy et al., 2020).
Another example where digital transformation is successfully implemented with the dimension of
local government is in Dubai. The transformation process of Dubai into a smart city format by going
through a comprehensive digital transformation started in 2007. In order to experience digital
transformation, it has been noticed the importance of the society and the government to be
ready in this regard, and therefore the government has been made to act as a dynamo for
technological transformation, and the trust in the services have offered in the society increased
over time. Dubai’s technological transformation has been systematically combined with digital
governance initiatives over 15 years. Today, electronic services offered by the government
account for approximately 95 percent of all public services. This means that more than 1000
governmental services are widely available in digital environment. In Dubai, it is focused on
building mobile applications in order to reach the existing local services for 24 hours a day. It is
also seen in comparative studies conducted by international organizations that this digital
transformation process experienced from top to bottom in Dubai is made serious progress. With
the digital transformation process in which the vision of the city is realized with the latest
technological facilities, it is predicted that the city becomes one of the “happiest” places on earth
for living and working (Öztemel, 2018).
Digital innovations are radically changing societies. One of the fundamental changes
experienced at this point is that individuals generally express themselves through social media and
other digital channels. A study conducted in the USA reveals that local governments use social
media to interact with citizens. It is possible to say that local governments are moving towards a
more open government with digital platforms that allow more interaction. There seem to be online
opportunities for one-way citizen feedback, such as surveys and comment forms, especially
before the advent of social media. However, two-way interaction in social networks shows that
citizens are more motivated to tend to participate. Social media, open data portals, and other
online and interactive platforms provide opportunities for local government officials and elected
officials to encourage more open participation of government and citizen (Mossberger et al.,
2013). It is possible to determine that social media, open data portals, and other online interactive
platforms increase the interaction of local governments with citizens not only in the USA but all
over the world.
Block-chain technology, which is one of the important elements of digital transformation
applications, also attracts attention as a new area of interest for local governments. It is seen that
a significant amount of time has been saved in Ghana due to registry of deeds via this technology.
By this technology, a kind of cooperation has been built between the municipality and regional
industrial enterprises in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In Riyadh, some projects are developed to
improve public services with large technology companies that carry out operations in this field.
While the block-chain applications similar to these kinds of examples are met in many parts of the
world, it is seen that local governments in Turkey faced with considerable lack of knowledge in
this field (Asgarkhani, 2005).
Digital transformation also has the potential to contribute significantly to the role of local
governments in the developing democracies. It is seen that the local government unit generates
a digital environment to encourage public participation with an application that can be
considered as one of the first in Turkey for this field. Muratpaşa Municipality has implemented the
“Neighborhood Council” application as a digital democracy platform. With this application, it is
aimed that those who reside in the area covered by the local administration unit in mention
provide their opinions and suggestions on all issues that concern themselves and the city. This
digital democracy platform that allows direct participation of citizens has been put into service
on the website “www.komsumeclisi.com” as of February 21, 2020. While this application was
designed, similar applications were used in the world. In this context, the examples applied in such
cities as Iceland-Reyjavik, France-Paris, and Spain-Madrid were taken into consideration. This
application is carried out by a software team affiliated to Public Relations Directorate and Digital
Media Team and Information Technologies Directorate of Muratpaşa Municipality. The Digital
Democracy Platform consists of neighbors (citizens) who live in Muratpaşa District of Antalya
Province based on the addresses of MERNİS and who accept the membership agreement by
applying for (online) membership. Its inclusive target group consists of 510,368 residents of city.
© RIGEO ● Review of International Geographical Education 11(8), Spring 2021

Since it is integrated with the MERNIS system, individuals living within the borders of another local
government unit are prevented from actively participating in this platform. Individuals aged 13
and over have the right to vote through this address ((ErdoĞAn, 2019).
Digital transformation practices in local governments are spreading rapidly all over the world. It
would be appropriate to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has served as a catalyst for local
governments and central governments to accelerate their digital transformation efforts in the last
year (Kreiss & Brennen, 2014). As long as the ability of individuals to use digital facilities increases,
the demand for digital applications of local governments will also increase. Conditions of both
local governmental units and individuals need to be matured in order for these digital applications
to be widely implemented.

Conclusion
The development of mankind in the period from primitive society to information society, together
with the development of technology, causes not only individuals but also institutions to be seriously
influenced in a faster, more versatile, and intense way than ever before. In time, especially the
development of internet technology and its usage in a very large geography and dense
population in the world transforms not only the social lives of individuals but also the structure and
business processes of institutions.
Nowadays, in almost all sectors, institutions become incapable of doing business without using
technological means; they cannot remain indifferent to the changes brought about by internet
usage. On the other hand, competition has increased more than ever in almost all sectoral areas
throughout the world. The increase of competition at the national and international level has also
strengthened the perception that an institution will gain a competitive advantage as much as it
uses technology. The efficient and effective use of technological possibilities and the widespread
use of information technologies in all managerial processes show that technology is an
indispensable resource to stand out in competition. Accordingly, institutions have understood the
importance of changing their business methods and started to see it as an obligation. This situation
leads to determine new policies for the target audience and to implement new ways of producing
goods and services by developing new interaction opportunities.
This state of change and transformation coming with technology institutionally in all processes is
called “digital transformation”. In general terms, digital transformation is regarded as the process
of “not only all segments of society but also especially organizations making technology a part of
their lives through concrete applications”. Institutions operating in both private and public sectors
have started to develop new managerial strategies to ensure the satisfaction of the target
audience (customers / citizens) by providing quality service in a knowledge-based and intense
competitive environment within a digital transformation-oriented way. In this context, the issues
which have now become an absolute necessity for organizations are “building new digital
business models in order to adapt to digital transformation”, “developing digital corporate
strategies”, and “adapting the corporate culture to digital transformation”.
The basic and final meaning of digital transformation for institutions is shown as sensitivity to the
target audience and ensuring their satisfaction. The meaning of this situation for “public”
institutions is the satisfaction of the citizens. At this point, the institutions that come first to us are
local governmental units. Local governments are the administrative units that need digital
transformation applications because they are the administrative units closest to the citizen,
involved in almost every process of the social and daily life of the citizen, and are in direct
communication and interaction with the citizens. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic process,
it is seen that local governments take steps towards more digitalization and developed
applications.
Looking at the samples of digital transformation practices in local governments in different
countries and cities within the scope of the study, it is revealed that the above assumptions are
confirmed. E.g., the Molenlanden Municipality of the Netherlands has undertaken an important
initiative before years; it has provided local services in a completely digital environment, instead
of establishing a physical town hall. Again in the same municipality, the satisfaction of citizens has
been tried to achieve with digital transformation applications on the one hand, while attempts to
provide services with the least cost have been prioritized on the other hand. Another important
point is the care shown for the protection of personal data. Here, the applications have been
made reliable in the eyes of the citizens, using cyber security elements with great care. Another

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Mustafa Kocaoğlu and Hikmet Salahaddin Gezici. (2021) Digital Transformation in Local Governments: A
Comparative Study.
example; the results obtained with the great digital transformation in the city of Dubai within 15
years are an indication of its success. As in the USA, social media and other digital environments
offering other interaction opportunities come to the fore as platforms that local governments have
started to use extensively. Local governments gain significant advantages with block-chain
applications as an important part of digital transformation processes. The local governments in
Turkey is seen if they do not have enough knowledge about block-chain. Muratpaşa
Municipality’s application in Turkey, “Neighbor Assembly” offers an important contribution that
can be converted into a direct democracy in the county. This system in which residents of the
district can share their opinions by registering on the web page in line with MERNIS records has an
infrastructure that can prevent active participation of those residing outside the district. This
remarkable project provides a good example of how local governments can make a high added
value contribution to democracy with digital facilities.
As a result, it is obvious that local governments are a major actor to spread digital transformation
to general public. Additionally, local governments, as the closest and effective actors in the
delivery of public services to the society, are in great need of digital transformation in order to
provide fast and quality service. Digital possibilities of local governments also having important
responsibilities in the development of democracy will make high added value if they are used in
this manner.

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