Abstract Public participation is a central topic in urban water governance. With the spread of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), urban water governance has undergone prominent changes, including the process and outcomes of public participation. This paper aims to systematically review existing scientific and grey literature on the use of ICT to facilitate public participation in urban water governance. Based on a search in Google Scholar, we have collected 33 published texts and discerned 32 case studies, which we analysed according to the Cochrane systematic review methodology. We found that ICT tools allow many citizens to be better informed and co-produce water services with a government. Furthermore, ICT tools have the potential to help in efficiency and effectiveness of urban water service provision. However, such tools provide few opportunities for higher modes of discussion and deliberation, and grant limited authority to participants to influence decision-making processes. This finding raises concerns about the unwarranted optimism of “digital democracy” proponents in the urban water sector. Public participation at the end of the day is political by nature, which cannot be cancelled out by ICT tools alone.

中文翻译：

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信息和通信技术对公众参与城市水治理的影响：基于地方的研究回顾

摘要 公众参与是城市水治理的核心议题。随着信息通信技术（ICT）的普及，城市水治理发生了显着变化，包括公众参与的过程和结果。本文旨在系统地回顾关于使用 ICT 促进公众参与城市水治理的现有科学和灰色文献。基于在 Google Scholar 中的搜索，我们收集了 33 篇已发表的文本并识别了 32 个案例研究，我们根据 Cochrane 系统评价方法对其进行了分析。我们发现 ICT 工具使许多公民能够更好地了解信息并与政府共同生产供水服务。此外，ICT 工具有可能帮助提高城市供水服务的效率和效力。然而，此类工具很少为高级讨论和审议模式提供机会，并授予参与者影响决策过程的有限权力。这一发现引起了人们对城市供水部门“数字民主”支持者毫无根据的乐观态度的担忧。归根结底，公众参与本质上是政治性的，单靠 ICT 工具无法抵消这一点。