URBACT project on citizen participation
Edited on
05 September 2022Since September 2019, the city of Dinslaken has been working together with seven other European cities in the EU-funded project "Active Citizens - Citizen Participation in Small and Medium-sized Cities". Dinslaken's French partner city Agen is leading the project, which is supported by European Union expert Christoph Gouache. Other participants are the cities of Bistrita (Romania), Cento (Italy), Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic), Santa Maria da Feira (Portugal), Saint Quentin (France) and Tartu (Estonia). "Active Citizens is one of 23 action planning networks currently funded by the European Community under the URBACT programme. URBACT itself is the EU's funding instrument for integrated and sustainable urban development and focuses primarily on the formation of thematic networks and the exchange of experience between different European cities and institutions.
At the kick-off event in Agen, all cities presented the measures they had developed so far for the participation of citizens and reported on their experiences. Chris-toph Gouache and Nicolas Castet (City of Agen) travelled to each city during the winter months, met with local actors and explored individual perspectives for further development within the URBACT project. The results were summarised in a baseline study, which then served as the basis for the EU's approval of the second project phase. By June 2022, the eight cities have the task of developing an "Integrated Action Plan" that describes goals and measures for the comprehensive establishment of citizen participation in each individual city. This plan and the associated financial and human resources for its implementation will be officially adopted by the city council in spring 2022.
Along the way, there are many different opportunities for European cooperation, for trying out new methods of participation and for exchanging experiences. In each city, a local action group has been formed to carry and responsibly shape the process on the ground.
In Dinslaken, "Active Citizens Dinslaken" comprises about 15 people who practise citizen participation in different ways: Departments of the city administration as well as citizens' associations, the KiJuPa or people from the active blogger scene. The working group is supplemented by three city councillors who are appointed by the newly elected council.
For the city of Dinslaken, participation in the URBACT programme is also the way to implement a requirement of the city's sustainability strategy. There, the operational goal is defined as follows: "By 2027, the vast majority of Dinslaken citizens will be verifiably informed about the newly developed participation offerings. These offers are designed to be target group-oriented, low-threshold and frustration-reducing". (Sustainability Strategy of the City of Dinslaken, 2018, p. 46)
Submitted by Barbara Gautherie on