Resident Profile & Communication Preferences

What this article covers: An overview of the self-service resident profile and communication settings available within Zencity Engage. While residents interact with these screens directly, city staff should be familiar with the features to respond to resident questions and support participation management.

Overview

Zencity Engage gives residents a dedicated space to manage their account, demographic profile, and notification preferences without needing to contact the city. From any Engage page, residents can access these settings through the user menu in the top-right corner of the screen.

These settings are available on desktop and mobile, and reflect the city's branding throughout.

Accessing the Settings

Residents click their name or account icon in the top-right corner of any Engage page to open the user menu. The menu contains three options:

• Communication Preferences
• Profile Settings
• About You

About You

The About You page lets residents save their demographic information so it pre-fills automatically the next time they participate in an engagement activity.

At the top of the page, residents see the note: "We'll use this information the next time you participate to complete the demographic questions for you. This information is securely stored and is never shared publicly."

If a resident hasn't completed all fields, a yellow Incomplete Profile banner appears at the top indicating how many questions remain unanswered.

Residents can fill in the following:

• Postcode
• Age group (Under 18, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+)
• Gender (Female, Male, Non-binary, Prefer to self-describe, Prefer not to say)
• Connection to the area (select all that apply, up to 4 options)
• Employment status (Working full time, Working part time, Self-employed, Student, Retired, Looking for work, Carer, Other)
• Ethnicity (White, Asian, Black, Mixed, Other, Prefer not to say)
• Religion or belief (No religion, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Agnostic, Prefer not to say)

Residents click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to save their responses.

Profile Settings

The Profile Settings page lets residents manage their account details and data rights.

Email Address

Residents can view their current email address. To update it, they click Edit Email, enter a new email address and confirm it in the modal that appears, then click Save Email.

Preferred Language

Residents can view and change their preferred language by clicking Edit Language. A modal appears with a language dropdown and the note: "Not everything will be available in your preferred language. If your preferred language is not available it will default to English."

Download Your Data

Residents can request a copy of their participation and profile data. Clicking Request Download opens a confirmation dialog explaining that a download link will be sent to their email address once the request is processed.

A few things to know:

• Residents can submit one download request every 30 days.
• After submitting, the Request Download button becomes inactive and the section displays: "Last Request: [date]. You can submit another request after [date + 30 days]."
• A green confirmation banner appears: "Download request submitted."

For city staff: Data download requests are fulfilled by the Zencity support team. No action is required from the city.

Delete My Account

Residents can permanently delete their account and all associated participation data. Clicking Delete Account opens a confirmation dialog with a warning that this action cannot be undone and may take a few days to process.

After confirming, a green banner appears: "Request sent to delete your account. This may take a few days to process."

For city staff: Account deletion requests are handled by the Zencity support team. No action is required from the city.

Communication Preferences

The Communication Preferences page lets residents control which notifications they receive from the platform. The page subtitle reads: "Manage the notifications you have signed up for."

Stay Informed About

Residents see a list of toggles:

How the Toggles Work

• Turning All projects on activates all individual project toggles.
• Turning All projects off does not automatically turn off individual project toggles. Residents can keep specific projects active while the global toggle is off, giving them granular control over which updates they receive.
• Changes take effect immediately. There is no save button.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can city staff manage communication preferences on behalf of a resident? No. These settings are resident-managed and self-service by design. If a resident needs assistance, direct them to their account menu within the Engage platform.

What happens if a resident requests to delete their account? The request is sent to Zencity's support team for processing. The resident will see a confirmation banner on screen. The deletion may take a few days to complete.

What if a resident says they aren't seeing their preferred language? Not all content is available in every language. When a translation is unavailable, the platform defaults to English. Residents can update their preference at any time from Profile Settings.

Can residents unsubscribe from a specific project without turning off all notifications? Yes. Residents can use individual project toggles to stay subscribed to some projects while opting out of others, regardless of how the global "All projects" toggle is set.

Is demographic information shared publicly? No. The About You page states that demographic information is securely stored and never shared publicly.