Code of Conduct

Introduction & Purpose

CityChangers.org shares curated content that aims to accelerate the transition to sustainable urban places. The platform shares knowledge, advice, insights, and project ideas focused on the ‘how to’ so that anyone passionate about making their city more liveable, equitable, and environmentally friendly have the tools they need to get started.

We offer a welcoming, safe, respectful, and inclusive environment to all, and expect all our community members, readers, partners, and followers to demonstrate the same ethos.

In order to make your involvement a positive one, these guidelines explain the behaviour we expect of our community, what you can expect from us, and possible consequences for behaviour not representative of CityChangers.org.

This applies to all members of our community, including staff writers, guest contributors, interviewees, and social media users. It’s valid online – at CityChangers.org and in other digital workspaces and communications – as well as for our in-person events, such as Urban Future conferences. 

Expected Behaviour

Diversity

We love diversity! It goes without saying that CityChangers is open and tolerant for all peoples, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture, health, ability, socioeconomic status, age, and religion.

Pronouns

Refer to everyone by their preferred pronoun.

We recommend referring to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Resource Center for advice in plain English on why this is important and how to ask someone what pronoun they go by.

Unacceptable Behaviour

Demonstrating behaviour not befitting CityChangers.org or breaches to this policy may result in exclusion from the community. Unlawful activity will be reported to the authorities in the appropriate jurisdiction.

Unacceptable behaviour can include, but is not limited to:

  • Racist, xenophobic, sexist, abusive, and hostile behaviour.
  • Inappropriate language. For example:
    • Prejudicial terms
    • Stereotypes
    • Offensive, derogatory, degrading, belittling, and demeaning remarks
    • Sexualised language or images
    • Intimidating, patronising, and passive-aggressive behaviour
    • Name-calling
    • Deliberately misusing pronouns and other forms of misidentification
  • Harassment, such as continuing to contact a fellow community member – via any communication channels – after they have asked you not to.
  • Purposefully speaking over someone repeatedly.
  • Victim-blaming.
  • Touching others without consent.

Spam Accounts

We reserve the right to close the account immediately and without notification in the event an account is created on CityChangers that appears to be malicious, automated/made by a bot, representing a fictional identity, or for any of the following listed reasons:

  • Promoting commercial products not associated with or endorsed by CityChangers.org or Urban Future
  • Where contact details and external links provided appear to be or are known to be fake, phishing, or infected with a virus
  • Linking to inappropriate content
  • Containing inflammatory, illegal, discriminatory, overly political, or sexualised language
  • Spam accounts
  • Multiple accounts for a single member

Reporting

Any unacceptable behaviour should be reported to the CityChangers team via email to citychangers@urban-future.org

If requested, and when possible, we will respect any wishes for anonymity beyond the CityChangers/Urban Future team.

All incidents will be reviewed swiftly.

Anyone who witnesses what they believe to be noncompliant behaviour should report it. It is not only the responsibility of the person targeted.

Consequences

Let’s be frank! If you demonstrate that you don’t share our vision for inclusion, equality, and collaboration, we will need to take action.

We may need further details of an incident to make an informed assessment. In this case, we will inform you of the steps we are taking.

If a complaint is upheld, we will inform the reporting individual of the outcome and the consequences we intend to enforce. If it is not found to violate our community expectations, we will explain why.

Unless otherwise agreed, all communications will in the first instance be in writing.

Depending on the nature of the issue, the consequences may range from:

  • Asking an individual to stop their behaviour – this will be monitored, and further action taken if necessary.
  • Ejecting and/or blocking an individual from the CityChanger community temporarily or permanently.
  • Reporting the behaviour to the appropriate authority.

Repeat violations may result in immediate expulsion from the CityChangers community and/or termination of any CityChangers accounts without further notice.

Credits

This Code of Conduct is inspired by the Technology Transformation Services Handbook Code of Conduct and the Medium article ‘How to write a great code of conduct’ published by Uplift: Online Communities Against Sexual Violence.

Version

Published 03 August 2022.