Data-driven democracy: empowering citizens with information in participatory budgeting

Speaker: Kirsi Verkka, Development manager

City of Helsinki

Description:
How would you make sure your proposal is fair and beneficial for different areas and groups of people? How would you use data to support your arguments and choices? These are some of the questions explored in an exciting project where we aimed to provide citizens with relevant and understandable information about the city's situation and development. The idea was to help citizens deliberate so that they could make informed and equitable proposals that consider the needs of different areas and population groups. The project was part of a participatory budgeting process in Helsinki, where residents could propose and vote on how to spend part of the city's budget.

In the core of the project was a use of service design methods to understand the different needs and motivations of citizens to participate and use data as well as information design methods to visualize and present information in an engaging and clear way.

In this talk, I will share the insights and outcomes of our project and discuss what challenges and opportunities strengthening the role of information in participation brings along. Join me to discover how data can enable citizens to have a voice and a choice in their city.

Language of the session: English

Logistical needs: a screen, projector,

Maximum number of participants: