Deliberation in Workshops in the Participatory Budgeting Process

Abstract

Participatory budgeting (PB) is an increasingly popular method for enhancing citizen participation in allocating public resources and engaging citizens in urban development. This paper aims to examine deliberation as a part of a PB experiment called “My Idea”, which took place in the city of Espoo, southern Finland. The PB process is comprised of several phases, including informing citizens, submitting proposals, deliberating in workshops, and voting on a digital platform. The residents participated in workshops to upgrade their proposals to be more feasible and attractive with the help of experts and municipal authorities. Deliberation consisted of elements of citizens coming together, discussing and reflecting on real topics, forming opinions and exchanging views before making informed decisions. The results entail deliberation in the workshops. The findings suggest that the deliberation of residents’ proposals with experts and municipal authorities has the potential to engage citizens in urban development. The empirical data were collected from the workshop discussions and participants’ interviews. The current findings contribute to an understanding of the importance of deliberation and public discussion in the PB process and community development.