Citizen participation for sustainable cities

This fact sheet from the Stockholm Environment Institute explains the role of citizen participation in creating sustainable cities, detailing its importance for reducing inequalities, the various levels of engagement, and specific methods such as participatory budgeting and citizen panels.

• Citizen participation is described as a process where individuals, groups, and organizations can take part in decision-making that affects them or in which they have an interest. It is considered a tool for building inclusive democratic processes, increasing trust in institutions, and reducing inequalities by allowing those with lower political and economic power to influence outcomes.
• Involving citizens helps municipalities find sustainable solutions tailored to local and regional contexts by leveraging local knowledge and experience. This process can build consensus, create momentum for implementation, and serve as a learning experience for both civil servants and citizens, enhancing accountability and deepening local networks.
• Participation exists on a spectrum of influence, often illustrated by Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation, which ranges from non-participation (manipulation and therapy) to tokenism (informing, consultation, and placation) and finally to citizen power (partnership, delegated power, and citizen control).
• Participatory budgeting allows citizens to vote on the allocation of a specific portion of a public budget. An example occurred in Paris in 2016, where €100 million was allocated to participatory budgeting, resulting in 5% population participation and projects such as school urban gardens, a refugee centre in derelict buildings, and vertical gardens.
• Other participation methods include citizen advisory boards (regularly consulted entities), citizen panels (convened for a single occasion), and citizen juries (informed deliberation on a specific question). An example is the French Citizen Convention for Climate, which produced 149 proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

APA

Nilsson, A., Vanhuyse, F., Arra, V., Requena, A., & Agerström, M. (2021). Citizen participation for sustainable cities. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/factsheet-citizen-participation-for-sustainable-cities.pdf

Chicago

Nilsson, Astrid, Fedra Vanhuyse, Venni Arra, Alicia Requena, and Magnus Agerström. Citizen participation for sustainable cities. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2021. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/factsheet-citizen-participation-for-sustainable-cities.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nilsson |first1=Astrid |last2=Vanhuyse |first2=Fedra |last3=Arra |first3=Venni |last4=Requena |first4=Alicia |last5=Agerström |first5=Magnus |title=Citizen participation for sustainable cities |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=March 2021 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/factsheet-citizen-participation-for-sustainable-cities.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nilsson2021citizen, author = {Nilsson, Astrid and Vanhuyse, Fedra and Arra, Venni and Requena, Alicia and Agerström, Magnus}, title = {{Citizen participation for sustainable cities}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/factsheet-citizen-participation-for-sustainable-cities.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }