2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

After declaring a climate emergency in 2019, the Municipality of Bologna integrated the Citizens' Assembly into its Municipal Statute in 2021. The Assembly represents the peak of Bologna's participatory processes and tradition. It was meant to be an effective participatory democracy and agenda-setting tool that directly engages citizens in climate policy formulation, reflecting local needs and perspectives. 

The Assembly involved 100 randomly selected members, 80 residents and 20 city users, gender-balanced and stratified to have a close-to-real representation of the socio-demographic characteristics of the City population. It focused on climate mitigation, adaptation, and administrative innovations for climate neutrality. The Assembly's members met 9 times through the four phases of training, listening, deliberation, and decision, fostering informed discussions with experts and involved stakeholders and aiming at consensus-building. Four Committees oversaw the Assembly functioning, ensuring the equal participation of everyone, as well as following up with the Municipality after the end of the project. Meetings were live streamed and all documents and materials are available online (External link). 

The Assembly's final six recommendations envision a sustainable, climate neutral Bologna. Citizens' inputs focus on sustainable buildings, renewable energy communities, green lifestyles, protection of green and blue areas, sustainable mobility and public space. The City Council endorsed these proposals, which have been included in the Bologna Climate City Contract, supporting the City's mission of becoming climate-neutral by 2030.

The success of the Climate Citizens' Assembly underscores its potential to reshape municipal governance, setting a significant precedent for future participatory processes. As, since 2021, the Assembly can be convened annually by city councillors by absolute majority or if citizens collect 5000 signatures. 

The Climate Citizens' Assembly empowers citizens in shaping the Municipality's public policies and exemplifies the power of citizen engagement in addressing global challenges at the local level. By fostering participation and inclusivity, the city paves the way for sustainable urban development and impactful climate actions.

• https://www.comune.bologna.it/partecipa/percorsi/assemblea-cittadina-per-il-clima (External link)