Inspiration
Municipal decisions can affect our homes, streets, and daily lives, yet understanding official documents and knowing when to participate can be difficult. We created CivicLens to help residents understand local decisions and have their say.
What it does
CivicLens provides plain-language summaries, neighbourhood search, decision timelines, and links to official sources. It guides residents through emailing comments or registering to speak and generates printable notices for offline sharing.
How we built it
We built the prototype using HTML, JavaScript, and a Python backend, with prepared records for three real Toronto cases. PyMuPDF extracts text from uploaded documents, and optional OpenAI integration drafts structured explanations for human review.
Challenges we ran into
We worked to simplify technical language while preserving meaning, distinguish proposals from final decisions, and clearly explain different participation deadlines. We also improved text contrast and PDF downloads through iterative testing.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We connected document summaries with practical participation steps, supporting citations, and printable notices. The prototype demonstrates how residents can move from discovering a local issue to preparing their own comments.
What we learned
Clear information becomes more useful when people understand what they can do next. Accurate decision status, visible uncertainty, and easy access to original sources are essential for building trust.
What's next for CivicLens
We plan to connect more municipal records, track changes to decisions and participation opportunities, improve accessibility and multilingual support, and test the tool with residents and municipal staff.
