In the light of changing demands on politics from citizens, and a democracy in crisis, citizen engagement is growing. As a topic that is gaining traction, citizen engagement was the focus of a workshop hosted by the collaboration initiative Climate-neutral cities 2030 – Open Academy. Representatives from academia and from the Mission cities Lund, Helsingborg, and Malmö, came together to explore and discuss how citizen engagement can be applied to support cities’ efforts towards becoming climate-neutral.
Professor Eva Sørensen from Roskilde University launched the event by giving an inspirational talk on the challenges and opportunities of citizen engagement, focusing on citizen assemblies and other promising alternatives such as Task forces. In both citizen assemblies and task forces, citizens and politicians meet and collaborate on critical issues. A prominent example of successful implementation is the Danish city of Gentofte, where task forces have become a permanent part of the local decision making process.
The discussions were further boosted by presentations from researchers who provided a picture of the spear edge research on citizen engagement from various perspectives; from the wicked problem they are addressing, to the design and potential institutionalisation of citizen assemblies.
The Open Academy will continue to focus on citizen engagement throughout the year, with a new workshop coming in September. For more information, please contact IIIEE researchers – and coordinators of Open Academy - Lena Neij and Sofie Sandin Lompar.
