CECI good practices involved in participatory budgeting in Lahti, Finland
Published by CECI lead partner LAB University of Applied Sciences in LAB Open 5.5.2021.
Through interregional cooperation among eight partners, the CECI – Citizen Involvement in Circular Economy Implementation project collects and shares such good practices to inspire other regions in their implementation. Three of CECI projects recognized good practices received attention and interest in the Good Practice; participatory budgeting process in CECI lead partner LAB University of Applied Sciences region in Lahti, Finland.
Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic decision-making process where ordinary people decide how to spend public funds (EmPaci 2020a). Citizen participation as PB and municipal decision making was first implemented in the 1980s in Porto Alegre/Brazil to increase transparency about the budget allocations and cope with social inequalities and corruption. Since then, the concept has been spread all around the globe. However, there is no universal method of PB.
Lahti has decided to spend 100,000 euros of municipal funding on PB in the year 2020 and implement the projects within 2021. The goal is to change how the city operates and direct funds into a more participatory direction by involving the residents in decision-making. Lahti has implemented its innovative PB system to activate citizens in decision-making and encourage initiative from the citizen that will implement local governmental change to benefit the citizens directly and increase sustainable development. Thus, citizens are directly involved in local government’s decision-making. Furthermore, they are encouraged to become project supervisors which encourages citizen involvement. Project supervisors help with developing PB, they support the implementation and coordination of PB.
There are three stages in the PB process: ideation, development, and public vote. Ten projects were chosen and will receive the funding. The city names 4 project leaders who support and are part of processing, evaluating, implementing ideas and participate in joint development. And 12 project supervisors who distribute information and activate residents in their areas.
Among the selected projects for PB are implementing in 2021 a Frisbee golf course, which received 25,000 euro with 624 votes. Revitalizing the market square received 6,000 euro in funding with 852 votes. Planting more flowers in the city center of Lahti received 5,000 euro funding and 602 votes. Selected CECI good practice: “Supervised bicycle park experiment encourages sharing economy in the city of Lahti” received funding.
The continuation of the CECI good practice guarded bicycle park in Lahti Market Square received 3,000 euros in funding and 751 votes. The practice runs mainly on a voluntary basis by Inspis. The flourishing third sector organisation Inspis cares for social and environmental causes in Lahti. Inspis was founded in 2009, the organisation supports social sustainability by supporting youngsters facing difficulties and at risk of unemployment. Furthermore, the supervised bicycle park offers circular economy services as it introduces citizens to the sharing economy by offering bicycle maintenance and access to a wide range of tools.
Furthermore, development of an inspiring CECI good practice: “Common urban space for events and other activities, Sopenkorven Kesanto (Fallow)" received 686 votes and 10,000 euros in funding from PB. The public space and event arena for Lahti residents will use the funds to improve, for instance, lighting, improve and increase seating for performances, add bicycle parking and toilets.
The Kesanto (Fallow) of the Sopenkorpi area in Lahti is an outdoor cultural centre and event space, community art and other outdoor activities. Founded in 2017 by Eetu Floor and Max Hagelberg. Sopenkorpi is an old industrial area in Lahti. The basic idea of the cultural event centre is a collaborative space where anyone can organize an event free of charge. The area accommodates up to a couple of thousand people.
