In 2023, People’s Budget Cleveland launched a historic ballot initiative to direct the City of Cleveland to put aside funds equivalent to 2% of the City of Cleveland’s General Fund each year towards participatory budgeting. While the vote was razor…
Across the world and especially in developed countries, there has been a decline in trust in democratic institutions, an increase in political discontent and citizen dissatisfaction, and a resulting decrease in voter turnout. Economic crises, climate disruptions and the COVID-19…
Paris PB: Vote until 24th Sept 2024 Paris has established the largest Participatory Budget in Europe. In the 2024 year residents of Paris have again been invited to vote on projects, with voting running until the end of September 2024.…
The 2019 World Atlas of Participatory Budgeting represents the widest compilation of data to date on PB processes across the planet. It is a collaborative work of more than 70 authors, who voluntarily made themselves available to collect and analyse…
There is a very real desire to make Participatory Budgeting more deliberative and thoughtful. One of the concerns about voting is that it doesn’t force people to think through the options. That PB needs more deliberation. Nevertheless Jez Hall argues that the…
The willingness of citizens to pay taxes must surely be a strong indicator of their trust in government. In two new reports recently released by the World Bank strong evidence emerges on the effect of citizen engagement on tax morale…
Lisbon City Council’s first-ever ‘green’ participatory budget, an initiative supported and managed by South Pole and EIT Climate-KIC’s City Finance Lab, has been allocated a €5 million budget to support climate change mitigation and adaptation projects selected by local citizens.…
As participatory budgeting grows in Scotland a lot of work has gone into developing a new charter for PB. The charter was released on the 27th June 2019. It lays out the defining features that underpin high quality PB in…
Shared Future and the Democratic Society worked with Dundee council on “Dundee Decides”, an innovative £1.2m PB programme that ran in 2018. We provided regular strategic advice and guidance to the delivery team and also facilitated an independent review to…
There are many reason to use Participatory Budgeting. Such as to inspire citizens to take greater responsibility within their community, or to strengthen the democratic mandate of elected officials. A significant additional reason is to promote open and transparent government,…