Europe works to engage citizens on sustainability

By establishing long-term connections with citizens on the topic of urban policy, the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy says it is seeing people become more motivated to work with municipalities to co-develop greener city planning policies. The project has also enabled the Commission to establish new partnerships with local and national governments, which help to inform and strengthen EU policy. 

The Centre says this is an exciting work that teaches how to tailor policy to local needs for the benefit of specific places, because there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. 

For example, the Sicilian town of Regalbuto in Eastern Sicily is tackling a number of demographic and environmental problems, including a population that is falling and ageing, a lack of economic and social development, and devastating wildfires. 

By adopting citizen engagement through a number of workshops, a strategic development plan has been developed for the town. In the framework of this project, young people are being empowered to play an active role in town planning. On the other hand, engaging citizens is helping place support where it is most needed. 

But what is really relevant, is that this initiative sets an example to other cities, both small and large ones, to better equip and support citizens so that they can help collectively address the complex problems.

Biodiversity

Another project of the Centre is Science and Technology for Pollinating Insects (Sting), which was developed under the EU Pollinators Initiative - a systematic strategy to protect wild pollinators across the EU. The Centre is engaging with farmers and citizens on the decline of pollinators to better-understand the issues at stake and let possible solutions emerge to tackle the problem. 

Through interviews and by analysing media content, the project has investigated public discussions surrounding the issue. Building on this knowledge, it has designed and tested strategies for collaborating and co-designing citizens’ approaches, including:

• Co-producing narratives and ways of framing the issue of pollinators’ decline. This has ensured that all wild pollinators, not just honeybees, are getting attention.
• Designing a blueprint of citizen engagement and constructing an awareness campaign toolbox on wild pollinators.

Energy transition

The Comets project aims to build knowledge around Collective Action Models for the Energy Transition and Social Innovation. Collective action initiatives (CAIs) are citizen-driven projects that draw on collective activities for producing, sharing, saving, purchasing, creating awareness and spreading knowledge on renewable energy. 

The project aims to generate and test new knowledge about technical, institutional, economic, social and cultural factors that may facilitate or hinder sustained activities of CAIs. The Centre is coaching research teams in their partnerships with CAIs in six countries to understand challenges they face, and how policies can be improved to help support energy communities.  

What next? 

 Following the Conference on the Future of Europe, the Commission says it is promoting a new way of working, one that values citizens as meaningful partners throughout the whole policy-making cycle. 

In a comment to Ocki, it adds that citizen engagement should go well past consultation exercises, to engage citizens at all stages, both in the design and implementation phases, as well as in the evaluation one. This will help provide the fit-for-purpose policy that is needed when it comes to finding sustainable solutions to current and future challenges. 

Through a more engaged public, the Commission is hoping to see a stronger mobilisation of both traditional and new public spaces. 

There should be more to report early next year, after the second US Summit for Democracy, when the Commission is co-leading a work stream on deliberative democracy and citizens assemblies with Ireland, which is recognised as one of the  countries to have pioneered citizen engagement.