Citizen Assemblies — sharing ideas for design and facilitation
Read for free https://acuity.design/citizen-assemblies-sharing-ideas-for-design-and-facilitation/
The three core principles of citizens’ assemblies
A CA [Citizen Assembly] is a participatory institution which brings together an inclusive group of lay citizens to engage in deliberation on a public issue so as to exert a public influence. CAs hence rely on three core principles: deliberation, inclusion and public influence.Julien Vrydagh
(University of Stuttgart)
I am designing and facilitating some Citizen Assemblies this autumn and, as I prefer to work in the open, I’m sharing both materials and time to talk about ideas and methods.
Citizen Assemblies are an idea that, for me, builds on my experiences in accessible design, participatory design and workshop facilitation. The ideas mentioned above about inclusion and public influence are critical in codesign work where power and privilege imbalances need to be explicitly discussed.
The actuality of deliberation leading to influence is something that has come up regularly in government consultation work where I provide accessible materials. This diagram on Non-Violent Communication in Structured Consultations is relevant to Citizen Assemblies in the senses of being explicit about power transfers and willingness to change,
Materials
The quotation at the start of this post comes from a very big academic book on Citizen Assembly ideas and critiques. It is De Gruyter Handbook of Citizens’ Assemblies and you can buy a copy or download it for free on the DeGruyter website.
A shorter place to start is the UK guide How to run a citizens’ assembly which is on my Dropbox.
This article Involving the public in policymaking… is useful too
Finally, the book Lifehouse by Adam Greenfield is helpful in understanding the broad context of communatarianism and where CA are placed within that sense of politics and community.
If you have any recommendations or experiences, please share in comments or come along to the Zoom meeting.
Time to talk
I am holding a informal space to meet, share and chat on Zoom on Thursday 19th September at 19.00 (London) for an hour. I am interested in both sharing and listening.
If you would like to pop in then contact me and I will share the Zoom invitation.
Originally published at https://acuity.design on August 8, 2024.
