Baden bei Wien: Stakeholder Participation in Community Sustainable Development

BuildAction is an initiative of SEEDIS – Social, Environmental and Economic Development Intersector Solutions – for the sustainable development and use of land, buildings and infrastructure. SEEDIS supports citizens and other stakeholders in the built environment to encourage the sustainable development and operation of their communities.

Public participation in public policy processes and governance tends to be low and citizens are generally not included in what is being discussed and decided about their communities. BuildAction is an initiative to support communities to involve citizens and other interested stakeholders in the sustainable development of their communities.  

The BuildAction participation toolkit enables municipalities to communicate, collaborate and cooperate with all interested stakeholders in the sustainable development and operation of communities and to coordinate collective action. It is a platform that complements existing or planned citizen participation initiatives of municipalities and is targeted at local and regional governments, private- and civil-sector enablers, and individual citizens.  

In collaboration and cooperation with the City of Baden, BuildAction is enabling stakeholders to meet their civic duty to actively participate in community affairs. While facilitating citizen participation, the BuildAction toolkit also helps the local authorities and governments to fulfill their role and public duty to citizens.

Illustrated by the experience of the community of Baden bei Wien, the BuildAction toolkit demonstrates:

• High innovation – New methodologies, tools, and approach;

• High inclusivity – For the participation of all stakeholders;

• High transferability – Duplicable experiences and adaptable use;

• High feasibility – Free and without financial obligation (affordable);

• High availability – Turnkey, relatively unrestricted access and use;

• High co-responsibility – Sharing the duty to participate in public affairs; and

• High transparency – Improves community openness and accountability.

Citizenship (e.g., community action) is the category chosen for the Baden bei Wien experience because the primary purpose of BuildAction is to enable citizens and other community stakeholders to take civic action. However, elements of deliberation (e.g., citizen assembly and participatory planning) are also significant aspects of the solution.

We are extending an open invitation to community stakeholders and municipalities around the world to participate in their sustainable development. The BuildAction platform is provided to the municipalities and all other interested stakeholders free of charge and without any financial obligation, to enable the relatively unrestricted and transparent participation of all stakeholders.

Besides our moral obligation to meet our civic duty to participate in community affairs, we must also set an example for other communities – both where local government is fragile and in the more stable democracies.

Baden is the city chosen for the experience because of our personal relationships with the City of Baden. Not only is Baden where SEEDIS is based but it is also where we live and work. We are fully committed to contributing to its sustainable development for this and future generations and are participating in collective action taken in the community.  

BuildAction enables stakeholders to take their commitment beyond words. BuildAction helps make this happen. 

• See BuildAction Featured Tools: City WORKS Toolkit, Community Tool Box, OECD Guidelines for Citizen Participation; SEEDIS.