This article is written by Julien Antelin, director of innovation at the Department of Neighbourhood Empowerment for the City of Los Angeles, California. He was previously in charge of local democracy, civic engagement, youth development and employment as the chief of staff for the deputy mayor of Paris, France

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the City of Paris, France, or the City of Los Angeles, California, or their respective governments.

If you walk down the streets of Paris or LA, you might not think they have a lot in common, apart from being two global metropolises that will both welcome the Olympic and Paralympic games in the next decade. But for all their differences and the 9,000 kilometres between them, they share a common connection — both cities have put citizen engagement at the forefront of their policy design.

Our democracy is being challenged worldwide by populism and a lack of trust in government and its leaders. In order for a government to mend the relationship with its constituents, leaders of local governments such as Paris, France, and Los Angeles California, have decided to lead the battle to regain people’s trust by listening to their constituents, answering their needs and at the same time opening doors to a sustainable future. This commitment is reflected in the large number of initiatives that give a voice to all the stakeholders throughout the decision-making process.

It is important to remember that in a participative democracy, feedback from citizens can be obtained at every stage of the decision-making process. This can happen during the early idea and reflection phase, through to actually making the decision and afterwards, and during implementation and evaluation. Civic engagement initiatives that open communication channels between constituents and their representatives can be structured at two levels: (i) local democracy operations and (ii) expert intake. Here are some examples to illustrate these two forms of feedback.

How Los Angeles engages its citizens

The City of Los Angeles has 99 neighbourhood councils representing the stakeholders of Los Angeles: residents, homeowners, employees, employers and any person who actively participates in a local neighbourhood organisation.

Each neighbourhood council acts as an independent and self-governed body. It is made up of a certain number of elected people who decide to voluntarily dedicate some — often quite a lot — of their time and energy for the improvement of their communities and make their local government more responsive to local needs. There are more than 2,000 of these community leaders who act as the link between the 4.2 million Angelenos and elected officials (mayor, city attorney, city controller and 15 council members).

One of the most powerful tools the neighbourhood councils use to provide feedback to elected officials is the Community Impact Statement (CIS), an official statement or position adopted by a neighbourhood council on issues pending before the city’s decision makers. For example, when the city council worked on a short-term rental ordinance (regulating AirBnb and similar platform), neighbourhood councils filed dozens of CIS to provide input and weigh in the final decision. Any matter pending before the city council, its committees, city commissions, or a city official is an appropriate matter for a CIS. Once submitted, the CIS becomes public record and is part of the legislative process. In addition, representatives of the neighbourhood council can present the CIS on behalf of their community in person to the decision-makers as a special presentation beyond public comment.

Before approving a permit, the planning department of the City of Los Angeles will ensure that the applicants made an effort to present their projects to the impacted communities

Neighbourhood councils can also provide feedback by taking a position on planning and land-use projects, as neighbourhood councils are invited to review and provide advice on planning and zoning issues in their area. Before approving a permit, the planning department of the City of Los Angeles will ensure that the applicants made an effort to present their projects to the impacted communities. Neighbourhood councils offer a comfortable space to foster dialogue between permit applicants and stakeholders. It is common to see permit applicants revising their project in order to satisfy requirements expressed by a neighbourhood council board or committee to receive an approval from the community where their project will take place.

Civic engagement initiatives also invite constituents to provide reviews on broader aspects of their government. For example, the City of Los Angeles offers a unique opportunity to take part in the preparation of the city budget and provide recommendations to satisfy its constituents expectations. Budget advocates are selected among the neighbourhood council system by their peers and are trained by city officials. Then, they are invited to meet leaders of each city department, to prepare recommendations that they will share directly to the mayor before his proposed budget is released. Budget advocates are also invited to share their views with the members of the budget and finance committee of the city council before the final approval of the city budget. A local government budget can be seen as a technical document, but it is actually the reflection of its values. Offering citizens access to all the documents and to have a voice in its preparation is part of a strong open government strategy (to be published).

How Paris engages its citizens

Paris, like LA, has embedded citizen feedback in its policy design.

For example, In Paris, the city’s youth council invites young Parisians to be a part of the political agenda. Once a year, the city council dedicates one of their meetings to listen to youth council representatives report on their work and offer an opportunity to debate with the 163 council members of the City of Paris.

Since 2014, the City of Paris has pioneered the development of a digital strategy to increase the outreach of its initiatives. For example, there is an online platform where constituents go to contribute and share views/ideas on a local planning project as well as broader, loftier ideas for how government should evolve in the future. The implementation of the participatory budget (which distributes roughly $100 million USD per year to projects submitted and selected by Parisians whatever their age or nationality) was also an opportunity to develop digital tools to gather constituents’ ideas and to invite them to vote on their favourite projects.

Civic engagement initiatives like the participatory budget in Paris uses digital tools to connect people who share similar ideas or projects

These two examples demonstrated the ability of digital tools to reach people that were not involved before in their local democracy — young people, young parents, or people who might be reluctant in taking the first step in engaging with government). Civic engagement initiatives like the participatory budget in Paris uses digital tools to connect people who share similar ideas or projects. Whether through a digital or physical meeting, this “match” may reach a consensus and, therefore, build a stronger advocacy group.

A digital initiative is an additional tool in the toolbox, but it is not a substitute for traditional, in-person meetings. These have their own set of challenges. In order to avoid a situation where certain very active citizens — often those with time on their hands to be full-time “professional citizens” — get a monopoly on civic engagement initiatives, it is important to raise awareness about these initiatives and develop “civic universities”. The universities would create an opportunity for non-formal education and will give constituents the tools to develop their own critical views and understand the challenges facing our representatives every day. Both Paris and Los Angeles offer various opportunities to learn how to be more involved. Paris has its citizen ID card and citizen workshops and Los Angeles has a civic university, a data literacy program, and offers a planning 101 course, a civic youth programme, IgniteLA and more.

Key takeaways

What are the keys to success for others who are looking to implement similar programs?

By far, the most important is to have strong political support: both Paris and Los Angeles are led by mayors who are at the heart of their city’s participatory processes and are pushing for the development of new initiatives. Second, these initiatives take up a lot of resources and require a budget (both in terms of staff and/or funding). In both cities, there are dedicated departments working on the development and implementation of the policies. Also, a dedicated communication strategy will have to be developed in order to foster the participation of the constituents in the different programs. Finally, you shouldn’t reinvent the wheel. Don’t hesitate to connect with other local governments to benefit from their experience. This will help you avoid pitfalls and save time. But you will still have to spend time and energy to adapt projects to your local context.

The free flow of expertise

Turning our democracy from what can sometimes feel like a wild goose chase in the form of local elections to an ongoing relationship requires resources and strong political leadership. It requires lifting barriers established by a few people who protect their own interest in place of the interests of the people. Civic engagement initiatives are challenging and complementing existing representative democracy. It permits the confluence of expertise: one, the constituents, as users of the city and the other, the technical skills of a government. More than ever, local governments have to keep improving their strategy to engage citizens, especially when social distancing threatens to become the new normal. — Julien Antelin

(Picture Credit: Unsplash)

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