Mini-publics win award
On 18 October 2024, the ‘Good Citizen Participation’ award was presented for the second time to outstanding participation processes. All four of the processes that received the award used sortition.
The ‘Good Citizen Participation’ award has been presented annually since 2023 by the Kompetenzzentrum Bürgerbeteiligung (Competence Centre for Citizen Participation) in cooperation with the Berlin Institut für Partizipation (Berlin Institute for Participation). It honours municipal actors (in particular cities, municipalities and districts) for high-quality participation processes. The award is given to outstanding projects that can serve as examples of good citizen participation.
Winners from three federal states
In 2024, the winners are from North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony. The following were honoured as representatives of numerous good participation projects throughout Germany:
- the city of Cologne for its sustainable mobility plan ‘Besser durch Köln’ (Better through Cologne)
- the city of Sulz am Neckar for its climate jury ‘Sulz besser machen’ (Making Sulz better)
- the association ‘Bonn im Wandel’ for the extensive participation process ‘Bonn4Future - Wir fürs Klima’. (Bonn4Future - We for the Climate)
- the city of Brandis for its citizens' jury and youth jury
More than 50 applications from municipal stakeholders were received for the award.
It is striking that in all four cases, randomly selected committees were set up to solve problems. The climate jury in Sulz am Neckar was set up in the same way as the climate forums in Bonn and a citizens' jury and the youth jury in Brandis. In Cologne, randomly selected citizens sat at a round table on transport policy.
Randomly selected citizens at a round table
The round table on mobility and society took place in April 2023 as part of the development of the ‘Besser durch Köln’ (Better through Cologne) mobility plan: the sustainable mobility plan should not only consider the ecological and economic dimensions, but also take the social dimension into account. The round table had the task of examining the interim results in three sessions to determine the social compatibility of the mobility planning.
The first draft of the mission statement was discussed at the round table and strengths and weaknesses were identified specifically from the perspective of social compatibility. The committee was made up of 20 representatives of social associations, companies and organisations, as well as 20 randomly selected citizens.
‘Cologne process exemplary and commendable’
Prof. Dr. Ortwin Renn, former scientific director of the Research Institute for Sustainability, Potsdam, said in his laudatory speech: ‘With the large number of participation formats to reach different target groups and people in different situations (in the city and the region), the city has developed a participation design that goes far beyond the average participation offerings of other cities and realises a comprehensive, well-coordinated and effective form of participation.
It should also be emphasised that the Cologne team has succeeded in implementing this complex design in a timely, high-quality and coordinated manner. The mission statement and the report on opportunities and shortcomings have received broad approval. The mission statement was unanimously adopted by the Cologne City Council. Overall, the Cologne process can be seen as exemplary and a model for the participatory creation of mobility plans.’
Climate Jury in Sulz
The Climate Jury in Sulz am Neckar took place as part of the ‘Sulz besser machen’ (Making Sulz Better) project. It consisted of 16 participants between the ages of 16 and 80. The declared aim was to develop recommendations for municipal climate protection. To this end, the Climate Jury presented 25 recommendations to Mayor Jens Keucher. A total of 400 people had taken part in the initiative, which had relied on a multifaceted participation concept involving table talks, climate workshops, a digital platform and the Climate Jury.
Presenter Prof. Dr. Andrea Walter from the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration NRW explained the reasons for awarding the prize to Sulz am Neckar with the following words: ‘Making Sulz better is a great example of how local civic participation can play a decisive role in helping citizens to perceive themselves as self-effective and to achieve even better results with their input than politics and administration alone could.
Dear Sulz team, you are showing with your activities how innovative rural areas can be. I very much hope that many rural regions in Germany will see you as an inspiring example and benefit from your experiences.’
Climate neutrality cannot be decreed
In 2019, Bonn's city council decided that the city should be climate-neutral by 2035 at the latest. The members of the Transition Town Initiative Bonn im Wandel (Bonn in Transition) had welcomed this goal, which is very ambitious by German standards. At the same time, it was clear to them that climate neutrality cannot be prescribed. It requires the participation of citizens, cooperation and good relations between all stakeholders, ideas and a well-thought-out climate plan.
With the backing of the city administration and local politics, but also with the support of more than 70 initiatives and organisations, they therefore launched Bonn4Future, a large-scale process in which direct participation also played an important role.
Action plan for climate-neutral Bonn
On 10 September 2022, the fourth and for the time being last climate forum came to a close. The citizens‘ action plan for a liveable and climate-neutral Bonn was handed over to Mayor Katja Dörner.
More than 200 randomly selected citizens, around 50 stakeholders from civil society, organisations and business, as well as more than 40 representatives of the administration, had developed a climate action plan over a period of two years. It describes what needs to be done from the citizens' point of view to make Bonn climate-neutral and liveable.
Climate plan with citizens’ recommendations
At the end of April 2024, the city presented an update to the Bonn climate plan. The new Climate Plan Plus now also includes the recommendations of over 300 Bonn residents who participated in the large-scale participatory process ‘Bonn4Future - We for the Climate’.
In her laudatory speech, Dr Esther Hoffmann from the Institute for Ecological Economic Research explained the reasons for the award: ‘Bonn4Future - We for the Climate’ aimed to make Bonn climate-neutral by 2035. In broad-based climate forums with randomly recruited citizens, stakeholders and administrators, a climate action plan was developed that describes how the transformation to a climate-neutral and liveable city can be achieved from the perspective of the participants.
‘Bonn4Future offers inspiration for other cities’
The participatory process thus contributes to the urgently needed social-ecological transformation. This can only succeed if we work together and have positive visions of the future. In this respect, Bonn4Future offers inspiration for other cities and further civil society initiatives.’
In Brandis in 2022, residents had discussed the update of their city's mission statement in a randomly-selected Citizens' Juryy. The sortition-based approach brought together a diverse group with many perspectives. For example, the youngest participant was 14 years old, and the oldest participant was 84 years old.
Youth Jury on youth participation
On 29 November 2022, randomly selected students presented the recommendations of their Youth Jury to the city council for improving youth participation in the community. They proposed setting up a youth advisory board and an annual youth forum with randomly selected participants.
For the Youth Jury, two students from each class of the secondary school and the grammar school in Brandis had been randomly selected from grade 7 onwards. The Youth Jury was then made up of 60 students.
Taking citizens‘ assemblies seriously
Laudator Gisela Erler, former State Councillor for Civil Society and Citizen Participation in Baden-Württemberg, made an impassioned plea for citizens’ assemblies, emphasising that citizens must be given as much political influence as lobby groups.
She stressed that the most important conditions for successful participation are that politicians must involve citizens' assemblies as early as possible and commit to seriously considering the results, and publicly justify any rejections.
Three mini-publics awarded in 2023
As early as 2023, three municipalities - the municipality of Bischweier, the region of Freiburg and the city of Werder an der Havel – had been honoured with the “Good Citizen Participation” award, in whose participation processes sortition played a decisive role.