European Citizens' Conference on the City of Tomorrow

Best Practice

Topics

• New forms of decision-making
• Policies and instruments

Short description

The Citizens' Conference is organised by a 6th Framework Programme project RAISE. The Citizens' Conference process involved the participation of 26 citizens in a sequence of three preparatory workshops where they provided their views about the urban sustainability. The result was a “Citizens' Declaration on the City of Tomorrow”, which was presented to EU policy-makers and stakeholders at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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Project executive

RAISE project Consortium, Co-ordinated by Carlo Sessa,Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS)

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Participants

Scientific officer for European Commission: Mr. Eric Ponthieu, European Commission, DG Research (eric.ponthieu@cec.eu.int) RAISE project Consortium: : Carlo Sessa,Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS),Project Co-ordinator, Gerald Berger, The Interdisciplinary Centre for Comparative Research in the Social Sciences (ICCR), Yves Mathieu, Ramboll Management, Ovidiu Romosan, Impact Consulting Ltd., Tadeusz Zoltowski,The Foundation for European Scientific Cooperation (FEWN) Participants: Gaušas Simonas, Mirti Marika, Terasmaa Triin, Habiba Boughaba, Šujanová Silvia, Malmborg Hanne, Egonsson Daniel, Shoshilos Andreas, Tàborossy Gabriella, Holzer Georg-Sebastian, Kozlowski Cezary Michal, Gabrane Ilze, Ditu Sebastian George, Zammit Anthony, Zallmannova Eva, Zouzia Afroditi, O'Toole Desmond, Cain Artwell, Kekki Arto, Gerlach Florian, Hageman Rachel, Malagon Eduardo, Gouveia Nuno, Leloup Claude, Hadfield Linda, Cassanmagnago Anna Maria,

Objectives

The project aim was to raise the awareness and test the acceptance and usability of results achieved by the recently closed or ongoing EU research projects on urban sustainability.

Activities

The process starts with the announcement of the conference on the web, then the collection of applications, the selection of a representative panel of citizens, the work of the panel in three workshops, preparation of the “Citizens Declaration” and presenting the Declaration to the EU institutions (European Parliament) in the Final Conference.

Process

The process of selecting participants began by sending out application forms to several city networks, cities, citizens’ organisations as well as NGOs with the request to forward these to their members. Among more than 570 applications 26 participants were selected based on quantitative (age, gender, occupation, education, etc) and qualitative (three open questions in the application form) criteria. The Citizens' Conference process was organised in a sequence of three preparatory workshops in Vienna, Rome, and Brussels. During these meetings, the citizens were fully briefed about the urban sustainability concept and were asked to provide their views on a series of research results of projects aimed at improving the quality of life of European cities. The outcome resulted in the drafting of a “Citizens' Declaration on the City of Tomorrow” to be presented to EU policy-makers and stakeholders at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Results

After the three workshops the Citizens have drafted the Declaration with the support of the RAISE team. This takes the form of a short text where the citizens declare their wishes about the City of Tomorrow and the conclusions and recommendations on the application of the EU Research which stem from their work. Annexes to the Declaration show their further opinions about the most important concerns in the four urban research areas – sustainable transport, sustainable built environment, cultural heritage, urban governance – what they want or are willing to accept, and what the EU research seems to consider or not to be considering enough. A feedback to the local authorities could be also ensured if cities directly adopt the Declaration as part of the implementation of European agend on sustainable development at the local level.

Evaluation

Done by ICCR (Vienna) and FEWN (Jablonna/Warsaw). The overall assessment is positive, no specific need for improvement was identified. The results are presented in: ASSESSMENT AND IMPACT OF THE RAISE CITIZENS’ CONFERENCE. http://www.raise-eu.org/docs/RAISE%20Declaration%20Assesment.pdf

Difficulties

No specific difficulties were reported, maybe only time restrictions, since a citizens’ conference process is extremely demanding. Participants – who, on average, are not experts of the particular field they deliberate – are expected to concentrate during the conference while receiving a lot of new information. Therefore,they should be given the time and space to process this information. The format of the RAISE Citizens’ Conference entailed three preparatory meetings which lasted two days each. The moderator –a consortium member of the RAISE team – tried to allocate as much time as possible to discussion and deliberation.

Financial backer

EU, 6th framework programme

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

www.raise-eu.org

Publication

CITIZENS’ DECLARATION ON THE CITY OF TOMORROW, http://www.raise-eu.org/docs/RAISE%20Declaration%20Full.pdf DIARY NOTE ON THE RAISE CITIZENS CONFERENCE, http://www.raise-eu.org/docs/RAISE%20Declaration%20Notes.pdf, ASSESSMENT AND IMPACT OF THE RAISE CITIZENS’ CONFERENCE, http://www.raise-eu.org/docs/RAISE%20Declaration%20Assesment.pdf

Project executive as above

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

Indirect, through a learning process among the participating citizens regarding the concept of sustainable development, the outcomes of EU funded research projects as well as the complexities of policy-making in an urban context. The main focus of their analysis was on issues like urban management and governance, transport and land use, housing and built environment, cultural heritage and citizens participation.

Economic value added

Not significant

Socio-cultural value added

The citizens’ conference process provided the participants the opportunity to create their ‘own learning space’ for interacting and deliberating. This deliberative set-up is an important factor for a citizens’ conference process: citizens should have the feeling and trust that they themselves ‘drive’ the agenda and not alone ‘abide’ to rules established by externals. In the words of the citizens: “We have committed out time and energy because we believe strongly in the importance and value of the work we have done. Our experience has shown us that although we come from different cultures, we can work together, that our diversity brings enrichment and complements those things we share. If we can share experiences and make changes at the micro-level, it is possible for other groups to do the same. Our group can become an example for the generation of a global dynamic.”

Innovative content

The RAISE citizens conference aim was also to demonstrate a new way to stimulate the “application” of research results by involving directly the “end users”. This new way is complementary to more traditional communica-tion, dissemination and exploitation actions. The presentation of the “Citizens’ Declaration on the City of Tomorrow” is therefore a unique event. For the first time in the EU, a panel of citizens from all EU Member States was given the opportunity to evaluate research outcomes and their practical usability for urban sustainable development.

Good governance

Citizen participation in policy-making is of major importance for modern democracies. The failure to involve citizens in decisions which affect their daily lives contributes to the growing dissatisfaction with the European Union and political institutions more generally. This phenomenon can be witnessed across all EU Member States. The RAISE Citizens’ Conference set a sign in the opposite direction. It provided a select number of citizens the opportunity to evaluate and test the acceptability of the research outcomes of the “City of Tomorrow and Culture Heritage” programme of the 5th RTD Framework. The RAISE Citizens’ Conference established a ‘public space’ for European citizens to discuss policies for a better quality of life in urban areas.

PR impact

Active dissemination was achieved through: RAISE project web-site, Links to www.europa.eu.int and other relevant web-sites, Competition for the design of the RAISE Logo amongst the students in the schools of art in the partners’ countries , Brochure of the RAISE project, Early contacts with local or sectoral media (e.g. NGOs newspapers, free newspapers such as METRO, etc.), RAISE video and press releases for national media (TV, newspapers) at the time of the Final Conference in Brussels.

Multiplier effect / networking

The cities could provide a further feedback to the citizens by way of: 1) disseminating and discussing the Citizens Declaration with the local citizens; 2) implementing the policy recommendations or other Research outcomes (e.g. new sustainability approaches) promoted in the Citizens Declaration at the local level. By now, the metaphor of the “1000 friends of Oregon” – was used to launch the idea of the “1000 friends of Europe” association, starting with the first group of 25 citizens. The aim would be to include in this association all the citizens that might be committed to participate in other citizens conferences in the years to come (if this idea will work, it could become a self-financed association). Slogan may for this association may be: “We have done Europe, we need now to make the Europeans”.

Transferability

The RAISE concept is transferable to other EU research and policy fields, and it is also applicable to lower territorial levels (countries, regions, cities) to ensure the participation of the citizens in the adoption of national, regional or local agendas and strategies. The aim of RAISE is therefore also to trigger the replication of the Citizens Conference in the EU member states by: - having interviews with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to gather their support to possible national initiatives; - based on the experience of the RAISE conference, produce a “protocol” for setting-up citizens conferences on sustainable urban living at national/local level Besides, it is also important to raise in the panel of citizens and in the other people involved in the Citizens Conference process (e.g. project coordinators, stakeholders etc.) a “mission” feeling. Indeed, the declaration of the citizens can become a “mission statement” for the sustainable city of tomorrow.