Participatory budgeting (PB) has spread throughout world in recent years. Finnish municipalities are also in a process of introducing this method among their tool of participatory planning and decision making. However, there is much room for thinking about alternative designs, with different implications for practice. In this presentation Mikko Rask will first distinguish between six main models as implicitly introduced in the Finnish context of PB, and then discuss some major issues related to the utopian, dystopian and realist evaluations of this approach: How can it be regarded as a tool for making cities more democratic and enhancing the quality of life of their citizens; how it can be regarded as an instrument of power that just cements existing structures of inequalities; or how it can be selectively and flexibly used an instrument of policy making, citizen participation, and even that of knowledge co-creation. The talk will be based on recent evaluation studies and engagement with several municipalities in Finland. The seminar will be highly reflective and calling for discussions with experts and researchers interested in this topic.

Time: Friday, 7.2.2020 at 13:15-14:45, Metsätalo (Unioninkatu 40) Sali 29

Presentation slides Utopian&dystopian&realist