In this three-part series that reflects conversations had at the launch of Public Deliberation on Climate Change and explored in the book, we will feature the successes, lessons, and a few answers to relevant FAQs. In this post, we are looking at recommendations for public deliberation organizers from those who participated in the Citizens’ Panel on Edmonton’s Energy and Climate Challenges—an initiative that was part of a five-year public deliberation project called Alberta Climate Dialogue (ABCD). For the introduction to this series, head to the first post.
What was successful? What successes would be useful to other public deliberation exercises?
Political leadership really matters. Having an elected official who was an advocate for this helped make it happen. It became clear how much bravery is required of civil servants to actually do something outside of “business as usual” around public involvement. Elected officials to take risks again and again and the incentive structures are not set up for to reward this behavior. Structures are set up for box checking.
Good representation ensures that the resulting recommendations are reflective of entire communities, not segments of a population.
Make citizen values core to the process. Identifying one’s own value systems helps people to connect with one another outside of opinion. For example, as the project progressed, citizens began to embrace the right and responsibility to be active in their own democracy. That ownership was facilitated by the role of values. The panellists created a set of values for themselves to guide their work as well as to guide the city in its implementation of the recommended strategy. These values were equity, quality of life, sustainability, and balancing individual freedom. The citizens felt empowered to bring their own reasoned and value-based recommendations into the deliberation. Organizers of the panel saw a sophisticated progression in the citizens’ capacities to discuss, deliberate, and decide.
Provide citizens as much ownership as you possibly can.
Work with citizens to learn what they need to do the job well.
Recognize that the emotional and social dimension of citizen deliberation is just as important as the cognitive and intellectual ones.
As I listen to people concerned about the need for a million people in a city to have better ways of talking to each other and developing public policy and deciding where we should go as a population, there’s a need for better tools. Have we landed on the best tool? No. But it’s probably the best one I’ve seen in my professional career. I see cities getting bigger and people becoming more isolated and relying on information sources already available to them. That’s the reality and the challenge that we have. I would encourage more efforts like ABCD. Keep it going because it is so important that communities learn how to talk to each other. —Jim Andrais
