Cases

Note: Anna Wohlfarth co-wrote the initial Participedia case on BürgerForum Europa.

The Citizens’ Forum is a new form of participation developed by the Bertelsmann Foundation, the Ludwig-Erhard Foundation and the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation. It is a 6-8 week online deliberation embedded in two live events, one at the beginning of the process and the other one at the end. This article describes the second edition of the Citizens’ Forum Europe.

Purpose and Problem

In 2009 cities all around America were hurting from the economic recession that was happening in the United States of America. In Philadelphia they had to close a deficit of $108 million in the next six months; the shortfall over five years is projected to be more than $1 billion. At this time the city was going to make cuts to city owned resources including, three ice rinks will be closed this winter unless private funding can be found, and 68 pools will be shutdown in the summer, Eleven libraries will close, and three others will lose their Sunday hours.