Mijn Stadsapp: +20 municipalities in 1 mobile app

About Smart Region Limburg (s-Lim)

s-Lim brings together some 40 local entities to develop technological solutions tailored to municipalities and its citizens faster and more efficiently. Mijn Stadsapp is an example of this.

Challenge: Different municipalities, one shared app

When do you have to take out the trash? The app of the intermunicipal utility company has the answer. Any good events this weekend? You’ll have to check your city’s Facebook page. Want to book an appointment at city hall? Then it’s  your city’s website you need to visit.

Municipal communication and services are typically fragmented. And keeping an overview becomes even more difficult when you live and work in different municipalities.

Room for improvement!

s-LIM asked us to develop a digital application that gives citizens easy and flexible access to all that relevant information. From their own municipality and other municipalities relevant to them.

Solution: One mobile app that brings everything together. Across municipal borders

We have developed Mijn Stadsapp.

Mijn Stadsapp groups municipal services and all useful information into one user-friendly app.

We integrated automatic links that bring in  data from different sources. Some examples:

• We retrieve the latest news from the city’s website.
• We load the waste calendar from the datasets of intermunicipal companies such as Limburg.net.
• Via a link with UiTinVlaanderen, we list events in the neighbourhood.
• And for each municipality, we have created access to their services.

Tech + design: we got everything covered

We built the app using React Native.

This technology is modular, allowing us to add new functionalities quickly and easily. This saves on future development costs and guarantees that the app can grow with the number of users and municipalities.

In addition, React Native allows the app to be maintained quickly and efficiently for both iOs and Android.

We opted for an easy-to-manage content management system, so that municipalities can adjust the content and settings of the app themselves.

Besides the technical part, we also took care of the design. Digital Product Studio lead Johan Steppe: "Accessibility is key. We chose to keep everything as basic as possible in order to maximise user-friendliness. After all, the target audience is very diverse."

We also organised plenty of consultation moments. 

Jurgen Geys, Mobile lead: "This one app has to serve several municipalities. So it's important to capture all those opinions. And to get everyone on board with the direction we are taking together."

The result: 20.000 downloads in one month

For s-Lim: one single point of contact. We as ACA Group take care of everything: the technical work, the desigs, planning...

For the municipalities: an improved information flow. And therefore more targeted communication to their residents.

For the citizens themselves: a faster and better overview.

The future? Johan Steppe: "We are looking at how Mijn Stadsapp can serve residents even better. And what role AI can play in this.”

"For example, how can this app help with the paperwork related to a new home? Or to get everything sorted when you become a mum or dad? How can we provide residents with even more tailored information?”

"In addition, this app could support municipal campaigns. Such as campaigns around road safety or illegal dumping, for example," Johan concludes. “The possibilities are enormous.”