The overall objective of DEMOTEC is to investigate whether and how participatory budgeting in regional and urban development policies can lead to greater and more informed citizen participation in policy-making and engage citizens that feel disconnected from political and policy processes.
The specific objectives of the DEMOTEC projects are:
The specific objectives of the DEMOTEC projects are:
- to analyse the determinants of effective citizen engagement in PB for regional and urban development policies (EU and domestic);
- to investigate the discourse on participatory budgeting of regional and urban development policies in the public sphere, via its representation in online news and social media;
- to apply different deliberative methods in practice, including piloting PB experiments and conducting PB events using digital technologies that involve different citizen groups, in regional and urban development policies in seven urban authorities across Europe;
- to identify lessons for effective and efficient methods for citizen engagement – specifically, increasing public awareness, understanding and involvement by citizens and the media in regional and urban development policies;
- to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and exchange of experience on democratic innovations among practitioners between countries and authorities at different levels;
- to draw conclusions (for both theory and practice) and recommendations for policymakers to improve citizen engagement in regional and urban development policies, including a policy handbook and policy guidance for applying deliberative methods (and specifically PB) to support replication across Europe at EU, national, regional and urban levels; and
- to promote awareness around the participatory budgeting process and project results among EU citizens and wider stakeholders through effective communication and dissemination.