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Citizen´s Assemblies, a new wave of citizen´s engagement in Europe
May 19, 2023 @ 9:00 am - 1:30 pm
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Climate change is often seen as a super wicked problem. Citizen participation can help to increase support for and legitimacy of policy decisions, and in this context citizens’ assemblies can be a very appropriate tool to address highly complex problems such as climate change.
Citizens’ assemblies are models of non-expert decision-making by a group of randomly selected citizens. The process involves in-depth learning about the topic in question from documentation and expert presentations. The methodology includes facilitating debate and discussion of ideas to reach a set of recommendations for decision-making by the group.
In this workshop, examples of citizens’ assemblies carried out in Europe at different scales will be presented in order to learn about the advantages of these processes, as well as the difficulties they face.
PROGRAM
09:00 – 09:35 | Welcome and opening |
09:40 – 10:15 | “Keynote: Citizens Assemblies, what we know from recent experiences in Europe: Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies” Alina Averchenkova | Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment |
National and regional experiences I. Moderator: María José Sanz | |
10:20 – 10:35 | “The French Climate Citizens Assembly “ Lise Deshautel | Métropole de Lyon |
10:40 – 10:55 | “Scotland’s Climate citizens assembly“ Oliver Escobar | University of Edinburgh (Participation by zoom) |
11:00 – 11:10 | Questions |
11:15 – 11:40 | Coffee break |
Regional experiences II. Session chair: Elisa Sainz de Murieta | |
11:50 – 12:05 | “Baleares Citizens Assembly “ Pau De Vilchez | Balearic Islands University |
12:10 – 12:25 | “Gipuzkoa Citizens Assembly “ Arantxa Mendiharat | Deliberativa |
12:25 – 12:35 | Questions |
“The Spanish Citizens Assembly / Coordination Panel – Maria José Sanz“ | |
12:40 – 13:30 | Cristina Monge Lasierra | University of Zaragoza (Moderator) Group of Independent experts Experts Cristina Linares | Instituto de Salud Carlos III Ministry of Ecological transition Francisco Heras | Spanish Climate Change Office Facilitación Team Conchi Piñeiro Citizen’s representative A determinar |
13:30 – 13:35 | Closing remarks – María José Sanz |