Iceland was one of the worst hit countries of the international banking crisis of 2008, with many of its major banks bankrupted. Since then, whilst going through some hard times it has been recognised as bouncing back. Participatory democracy, including forms of participatory budgeting, has been at the core of its strategy to re-engage citizens… Read More
Case studies
Brief overviews of experiences of Participatory Budgeting
Rochdale Residents celebrate with another £47,000 of Our Choice funding
This spring Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) once again rolled out their award-winning “Our Choice” project, which gives residents control of how money is spent improving their neighbourhoods. £47,000 of funding to thirteen neighbourhoods was up for grabs and only local people could decide how it was spent. Since 2013 more than £120,000 has been distributed… Read More
Thinkpiece on democratic innovation published by Foreign Affairs website
In an article published on the 11th March 2015 on the respected Foreign Affairs website, Paolo Spada and Hollie Russon Gilman provide a overview of the development of participatory budgeting (PB) in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil since the late 1980’s. They consider what’s been achieved in the birthplace of PB, as it evolves… Read More
Tower Hamlets “You Decide!”
In Tower Hamlets, a Participatory Budgeting project known as “You Decide!” was carried out across the whole Borough in 2009 and 2010. The Cabinet allocated £2.38 million per year for a two year period (total of £4.76 million) with £300,000 added by the local Primary Care Trust (PCT) in year two. A total of over… Read More
Dulverton Council and Devon and Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service combine forces on Our Place
Partnership working is at the heart of successful Participatory Budgeting and this is nowhere more true in Dulverton, that has been pathfinding an ‘Our Place‘ approach to PB for many years. By combining forces with agencies like Devon and Somerset Fire Service, Dulverton was recently awarded Our Place status and is looking to develop it… Read More
Boston youth among 15 international examples of PB
Cat Johnson has posted a useful blog offering a list of 15 innovations in citizen participation, running from Porto Alegre to Boston’s recent youth led programme. She lists 15 projects from around the world that demonstrate the potential of the PB process. Citing from the report "The first city in the U.S. to instate youth… Read More
TravelSMART funds £1m of community transport projects in Surrey
Surrey County Council have been using Participatory Budgeting to share £1m of funding between various communities in Surrey. The aim of the TravelSMART community funding is to make the county a better place for residents, by improving public transport, encouraging cycling and cutting carbon emissions. Harris Vallianatos, Sustainable Transport Officer at Surrey County Council recently… Read More
Your Community, Your Health, Your Voice in Southampton
Your Community, Your Health is a health themed participatory budgeting project in Thornhill, Southampton. Thornhill’s Community Health Group, comprising residents and agency representatives from Southampton City Council, Southampton City PCT and Thornhill Plus You, oversaw an annual funding stream provided by the PCT to tackle health inequalities in Thornhill. They first explored the idea of… Read More
Building relationships through Participatory Budgeting – Newcastle’s experience
In early April 2014 the Open Democracy Project published an interesting and informative article on Newcastle’s long running UDecide programme. Alison Lamb from Newcastle City Council was interviewed by Participation Now researcher Hilde C. Stephansen. A short extract is given below. "the benefits that we always cite in Newcastle are about increasing confidence and trust… Read More
Municipal Journal features Durham Participatory Budgeting
Municipal Journal featured Durham County Council’s exciting work on Participatory Budgeting in its February 20th 2014 issue, highlighting the 19,000 residents who have directly participated in deciding on how to spend over £1.5m on local projects. Since its first PB event in March 2011 the council has hosted 40 events across it’s 14 Area Action… Read More
