Survey example: Citizen survey about walkability and sidewalks

This is an example of an AI survey for citizens about walkability and sidewalks—see and try the example to understand how modern, conversational surveys unlock richer feedback.

Most city-led surveys on walkability and sidewalks fall flat because they’re either too long, too dry, or miss what really matters to everyday citizens.

At Specific, we know how hard it is to get citizens to open up in surveys. All the tools here are part of Specific, built by experts for actionable, deep insights—without the typical survey headaches.

What is a conversational survey and why AI makes it better for citizens

If you’ve ever tried to run a citizen survey around walkability and sidewalks, you know the pain. You want real stories—not single-word answers or a half-finished form abandoned halfway through. Manual survey creation often results in long, generic forms that people don’t complete. That’s where a conversational AI survey shines.

With an AI survey generator, you get a living conversation that feels less like “filling out a form” and more like “talking to a smart city planner.” The survey adapts to the respondent’s answers, guiding them toward richer insights while keeping questions relevant and engaging. This makes it much easier to gather nuanced feedback—especially on local topics like walkability, crosswalks, or neighborhood safety. Compared to manual survey forms, this approach helps you avoid the most common pitfalls.

Why use AI for citizen surveys?

• More engagement: Conversations adapt based on how a respondent feels or answers. The process feels personal and relevant—no more generic forms.

• Better results: AI-driven survey tools have been shown to increase response rates by up to 25% and reduce abandonment by 30% by optimizing the selection and ordering of questions. [2]

• Expert-crafted experience: With Specific, the user experience is frictionless for both survey creators and citizens taking the survey.

AI survey examples like this one combine speed, depth, and ease—making it easy to discover what matters most to your citizen audience. If you want to build your own, see our guide to creating citizen surveys or check out the AI survey builder for custom topics.

Automatic follow-up questions based on previous reply

One of the smartest features in Specific is how the AI chats with each citizen. Instead of just collecting surface-level answers, it listens—and then asks follow-up questions tailored to the previous reply, in real time. This is the magic of the conversational survey model: you get richer, fuller context without doing any extra work.

For example, if you skip follow-ups, you might get:

• Citizen: “Sidewalks need work.”

• AI follow-up: “Which specific areas or sections concern you most when it comes to sidewalk maintenance?”

That simple follow-up gets to the heart of the issue fast. Without it, your results end up vague—leaving you to guess what citizens care about. Automated follow-ups save hours of back-and-forth email, clarify feedback immediately, and make respondents feel genuinely heard. If you want to see how these AI-powered follow-ups work, try generating a survey yourself and experience what real conversational survey tools can do. More details on this feature are on our automatic AI follow-up questions page.

With Specific, these follow-ups are what turn a traditional survey into a real conversation—and that’s why it’s called a conversational survey.

Easy editing, like magic

Changing your citizen survey about walkability and sidewalks is quick and effortless. With Specific, you just chat or describe what you want to adjust, and the AI edits the survey instantly based on expert best practices. No dragging and dropping, no endless menus or manual logic—just tell the system what you want, and it takes care of everything in seconds. It’s survey editing, minus the grunt work. Learn more about this on our AI survey editor page.

Flexible delivery to reach citizens where it matters

When it comes to citizen feedback on walkability and sidewalks, how you deliver the survey shapes who responds. Specific gives you two flexible options:

• Sharable landing page surveys: Perfect for city newsletters, social media, flyers, or local events. Just share the link and let citizens participate at their own pace—ideal for broad community outreach.

• In-product surveys: Great for cities with digital apps or local services; these surveys appear as chat widgets within resident portals, transit apps, or city websites—capturing feedback in-context, with minimal friction.

Most walkability and sidewalk initiatives will get the best reach with a sharable landing page, but if you have a digital city service, in-product surveys are a game changer. For tips on what questions drive actionable citizen feedback, read this guide to best survey questions.

AI-powered survey analysis and automated insights

Your job doesn’t end with collecting responses. With Specific, AI-powered analysis instantly summarizes feedback, detects key topics (like “bike lanes” or “crosswalk safety”), and gives you actionable findings—zero spreadsheets or hand-coding required. You can even chat directly with the AI about survey results for instant answers. To see how to analyze citizen walkability and sidewalks survey responses with AI, check out this step-by-step guide or learn more at AI survey response analysis.

See this walkability and sidewalks survey example now

Give it a try—see how a conversational survey feels, get inspired for your next project, and unlock more meaningful citizen insights about walkability and sidewalks in minutes.