Designing E-Services for Improving Crisis Communication in Local Municipalities: Cooperation with Apartment Associations

In this study, we develop and formatively evaluate a conceptual e-service framework to support municipalities and apartment associations in crisis preparedness. Using an exploratory design-oriented case study informed by selected Action Design Research principles, we combine a World-Café-style session with older residents, expert consultations, and secondary-data analysis. The study develops the Coordination Framework for Municipal-Apartment Association Crisis Preparedness (C-MAACP Framework), which integrates municipal coordination, apartment-association participation, register-supported information management, privacy-aware access, preparedness-status visualization, and multi-channel communication. The concept was formatively evaluated with experts from the Estonian Rescue Services Agency and the Tallinn Municipal Police Department. The findings suggest that the framework can support municipal crisis preparedness by improving information coordination, clarifying stakeholder roles, and structuring cooperation between municipalities and apartment associations. The study contributes a transferable conceptual design framework while identifying implementation, adoption, legal, and privacy issues for future research.