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Participation

Participation is derived from the Latin term participare. In English, it means to participate. According to the German encyclopedia Brockhaus, participation describes a person or a group participating in decision-making processes and procedures. 

Citizens’ Initiative

Citizens’ initiatives are seen as groups that form within limits defined by time and space, independent of political parties and associations, aimed at pursuing the interests of their members, specific groups of society, or in some cases also objectives that concern society as a whole.

(Brockhaus encyclopedia)

Citizens’ Jury

A citizens’ jury is defined as a group of around 25 randomly selected citizens released from their everyday work for three to four days in order to get together in groups and develop recommendations on a specific issue.

(planungszelle.de)

Citizens’ Platform

The citizens’ platform brings associations, initiatives and individual citizens together that live in the same area of a city. Together, they identify the joint causes and problems in their districts and develop constructive proposals how to address these issues.

(Citizens’ participation portal, City of Chemnitz)

Citizens’ Participation

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung (foundation) defines citizens’ participation as the citizens’ participation in political decisions […] that goes beyond electing political representatives into the parliaments. 

The Cooperative City

We use the term cooperative city if at a municipal level, the collaboration with committed urban makers is actively supported or even initiated by the local administration or policymakers themselves.

(Federal German award Cooperative City)

Digital Citizens’ Participation Platforms

On digital citizens’ participation platforms such as mein.berlin.de the city’s residents find information about municipal administration projects in Berlin and can submit their own ideas and proposals.

(mein.berlin.de)