The interdisciplinary group act-local is a spin-off from the EU founded research project Citizen Media at Academy of Media Arts Cologne ((10-2007 to 05-2009). The general objective of the project was to implement software that creates a social change by giving citizens a voice in the local debate about the conditions of urban life. The researchers started a user centred design process intending to improve the communication between city administration and citizens. The efforts resulted in the development of web based application »Unortkataster-Köln« (www.unortkataster.de) that was actively guided by the researchers from September 2008 until March 2009 in collaboration with cologne citizens. Subsequently a second release of the platform was designed and implemented called »Handshake«. It is built on completely revised and improved software and equipped with extended functionalities. Handshake will be applied in Munich in September 09 in collaboration with a local group regarding city improvements for cyclists.