Final Report Summary - RAISE (Raising citizens and stakeholders awareness, acceptance and use of new regional and urban sustainibilty approaches in Europe)
The RAISE project aimed to increase public awareness regarding recently undertaken research efforts on urban sustainability, as well as to test the acceptance and potential for utilisation of their results. RAISE focused on four topics, namely urban governance, sustainable transport, sustainable built environment and cultural heritage. In addition, the project highlighted education as a critical issue for sustainability implementation.
A citizens' conference process was firstly developed, involving participants of all EU members and a representative of a candidate country. The attendants were neither scientists nor decision makers, since RAISE objective was to define the proposals' acceptance among ordinary people. The citizens' selection was based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria, in an attempt to represent various educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Nevertheless, the final group consisted of members with relatively high economic and educational backgrounds, mainly due to the necessity for English speaking, familiarised with technology participants.
Three preparatory meetings were organised prior to the final conference, so as to sufficiently inform attendants and to mobilise consensus towards a 'citizen declaration on the city of tomorrow'. The finalised document was subsequently presented to the European parliament, as well as to institutions, stakeholders and politicians. In addition, a press conference, which though received minor interest, was organised.
It was estimated that the participation of general public provided useful feedback to stakeholders and resulted in clarification and increased efficiency of the proposed policies. The applied participatory approach had potential for further implementation in assessment processes at an international, national, regional and local level, as it occurred from investigation of the involved groups' opinion. However, some questions were raised on the usefulness of insertion of some sort of direct democratic elements in policy making. In addition, the methodology was criticised in terms of its capacity to successfully represent different social groups. Some citizens also questioned the actual efficiency of their involvement in decision making, due to the reduced interest of press and politicians on the conference outcomes.
The acquired knowledge was disseminated through the continuous posting of conference results in the project website and the development of relevant documentation in different languages. Furthermore, a video presentation was produced and guidelines for citizen participation were formulated. Finally, discussions with stakeholders and decision makers were organised to assist future exploitation of the developed process.
A citizens' conference process was firstly developed, involving participants of all EU members and a representative of a candidate country. The attendants were neither scientists nor decision makers, since RAISE objective was to define the proposals' acceptance among ordinary people. The citizens' selection was based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria, in an attempt to represent various educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. Nevertheless, the final group consisted of members with relatively high economic and educational backgrounds, mainly due to the necessity for English speaking, familiarised with technology participants.
Three preparatory meetings were organised prior to the final conference, so as to sufficiently inform attendants and to mobilise consensus towards a 'citizen declaration on the city of tomorrow'. The finalised document was subsequently presented to the European parliament, as well as to institutions, stakeholders and politicians. In addition, a press conference, which though received minor interest, was organised.
It was estimated that the participation of general public provided useful feedback to stakeholders and resulted in clarification and increased efficiency of the proposed policies. The applied participatory approach had potential for further implementation in assessment processes at an international, national, regional and local level, as it occurred from investigation of the involved groups' opinion. However, some questions were raised on the usefulness of insertion of some sort of direct democratic elements in policy making. In addition, the methodology was criticised in terms of its capacity to successfully represent different social groups. Some citizens also questioned the actual efficiency of their involvement in decision making, due to the reduced interest of press and politicians on the conference outcomes.
The acquired knowledge was disseminated through the continuous posting of conference results in the project website and the development of relevant documentation in different languages. Furthermore, a video presentation was produced and guidelines for citizen participation were formulated. Finally, discussions with stakeholders and decision makers were organised to assist future exploitation of the developed process.