Citizens’ assembly on green urban life in Inner Østerbro

Inner Østerbro, one of Copenhagen’s most iconic neighborhoods, is experiencing the same pressures as many other neighborhoods around the world. How can we have functionality in everyday life, but at the same time create a greener and more vibrant city? To do this, citizens need to be part of the conversation, as they are the ones who live in and use Inner Østerbro. Therefore, the City of Copenhagen decided to launch a citizens’ assembly on the issue.

The Citizens’ Assembly has been asked a key question by the City Council, which it must answer. The core question is: “How should we prioritize the space in Inner Østerbro between cars, urban nature and urban life?” Over five sessions, citizens must make recommendations to the City Council that answer this question.

We Do Democracy is the lead facilitator and third-party secretariat for the Citizens’ Assembly. In this way, we ensure that the citizen collection is legitimate, professionally based and safe for citizens. Through collaboration with both the City Council and the Technical and Environmental Administration, we have helped design the core questions, mandate and learning process. Finally, we facilitate the sessions.

The Østerbro Citizens’ Assembly has finalized their work and agreed on 10 recommendations and 25 concrete initiatives to create a greener, more vibrant and car-free Østerbro

• 1498 citizens applied for one of the 36 seats in the citizen assembly based on the invitations citizens aged 18 to 99+ received via Digital Post.
• 36 representative members were selected, and during the spring, citizens will make recommendations to the City Council.
• New urban space and parking plan for Østerbro is based on recommendations initiated by Copenhagen’s technical and environmental administration

Read more about the recommendations and results of the citizens’ assembly here. Read more about the project on the citizen assembly’s website: borgersamling2100.kk.dk