Data

General Issues
Planning & Development
Specific Topics
Public Amenities
Location
Dresden
Germany
Scope of Influence
City/Town
Links
Dresdner Debatte Official Website
Start Date
End Date
Ongoing
No
Time Limited or Repeated?
A single, defined period of time
Purpose/Goal
Make, influence, or challenge decisions of government and public bodies
Approach
Consultation
Research
Spectrum of Public Participation
Involve
Total Number of Participants
1000
Open to All or Limited to Some?
Open to All
General Types of Methods
Deliberative and dialogic process
Informal conversation spaces
General Types of Tools/Techniques
Facilitate dialogue, discussion, and/or deliberation
Propose and/or develop policies, ideas, and recommendations
Collect, analyse and/or solicit feedback
Specific Methods, Tools & Techniques
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)
Survey
Legality
Yes
Facilitators
Yes
Face-to-Face, Online, or Both
Both
Types of Interaction Among Participants
Discussion, Dialogue, or Deliberation
Express Opinions/Preferences Only
Decision Methods
Opinion Survey
Communication of Insights & Outcomes
Public Report
Public Hearings/Meetings
Traditional Media
Primary Organizer/Manager
Zebralog - Experts in eParticipation
Type of Organizer/Manager
Local Government
For-Profit Business
Type of Funder
Local Government
Staff
Yes
Evidence of Impact
Yes
Types of Change
Changes in people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior

CASE

"Dresdner Debatte" on the Neumarkt Redesign

August 29, 2020 Jaskiran Gakhal, Participedia Team
July 9, 2017 Christina Rucker
May 23, 2013 Christina Rucker
General Issues
Planning & Development
Specific Topics
Public Amenities
Location
Dresden
Germany
Scope of Influence
City/Town
Links
Dresdner Debatte Official Website
Start Date
End Date
Ongoing
No
Time Limited or Repeated?
A single, defined period of time
Purpose/Goal
Make, influence, or challenge decisions of government and public bodies
Approach
Consultation
Research
Spectrum of Public Participation
Involve
Total Number of Participants
1000
Open to All or Limited to Some?
Open to All
General Types of Methods
Deliberative and dialogic process
Informal conversation spaces
General Types of Tools/Techniques
Facilitate dialogue, discussion, and/or deliberation
Propose and/or develop policies, ideas, and recommendations
Collect, analyse and/or solicit feedback
Specific Methods, Tools & Techniques
Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)
Survey
Legality
Yes
Facilitators
Yes
Face-to-Face, Online, or Both
Both
Types of Interaction Among Participants
Discussion, Dialogue, or Deliberation
Express Opinions/Preferences Only
Decision Methods
Opinion Survey
Communication of Insights & Outcomes
Public Report
Public Hearings/Meetings
Traditional Media
Primary Organizer/Manager
Zebralog - Experts in eParticipation
Type of Organizer/Manager
Local Government
For-Profit Business
Type of Funder
Local Government
Staff
Yes
Evidence of Impact
Yes
Types of Change
Changes in people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior

The first Dresdner Debatte (Dresden debate) involved an open, online public dialogue between residents, politicians, and urban planners on the Neumarkt reconstruction of historical streets and facades. It aimed to open contact between citizens and government to improve transparency.

Problems and Purpose

The Dresdner Debatte (Dresden debate) was introduced as a new forum for an open public dialogue between citizens, politicians, and urban planners, dealing with present or controversial aspects of urban development. The Dresdner Debatte is based on two overlapping options for participation: online dialogue via an internet platform and direct dialogue in a temporary information container on the development site. In order to secure an open and independent forum, the external actor Zebralog moderated the dialog. They also documented and evaluated the participation process in order to extract clear conclusions, for implementation in future development.

The first Dresdner Debatte was installed in the city center, in the area around the well-known Neumarkt square, where there was ongoing reconstruction of historical streets, squares and well-documented historical facades. The first Debatte was held under an air of controversy since the Neumarkt area's redevelopment was highly divisive, being closely related to issues of cultural heritage, identities, and lifestyles. The objective of the Dresdner Debatte was to gain more direct suggestions, comments, and ideas for future development, but also to establish more direct contact between citizens, government, and administration in the process of developing and altering action concepts. Another important aspect was to bring the participants' opinions and suggestions together with knowledge of experts and professionals within a transparent decision process.

Background History and Context

Dresden’s heritage of severe destruction as a result of the Second World War coupled with the experience of two undemocratic regimes from 1933 until 1989 is still closely related to the cities' physical realities. In this way, every debate concerning urban development in Dresden also tends to establish references to this given background. As well, the citizens of Dresden share a strong common tradition of engagement in urban development and public space design. Still the channels for individuals, groups, and organizations to communicate their suggestions and arguments were repeatedly criticized as insufficient or outdated.

The first Dresdner Debatte was initiated in the city center, in the area around the well-known square, Neumarkt. At this site, an ongoing reconstruction of historical streets, squares and well-documented historical facades is taking place. This development is also one of the most discussed ones in Dresden, thereby closely related to issues of cultural heritage, contemporary construction and architectural design as well as identities and lifestyles, which might explain the controversial background of the first Dresdner Debatte. The reconstruction of the Neumarkt area has in recent years already drawn great attention to the “new” historic city centre of Dresden with an increasing number of visitors and tourists as a result. As a consequence, the cultural and commercial offers in the area sometimes tend to be strongly oriented towards visitors and less towards the local citizens.

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

The project was conceived by the local administration as having three major phases after conception: participation, evaluation, and implementation. The decision was made to have the initiative organized and overseen by Zebralog and Sally Below in order to secure independence and objectivity towards local government and citizens.

During the conception phase, a project team was formed within the administration and in collaboration with Zebralog in order to work out content, designs, information and public relations strategies.

Participant Recruitment and Selection

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Methods and Tools Used

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What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

Participation Phase

Following the conception phase headed by the local administrative project team, Zebralog and Sally Below, the main phase of public participation began. Taking the form of a moderated debate, the event ran from June 8th to July 8th.

The process began by asking participants a singe question: How might the Neumarkt square become a place for Dresden's citizens?

By gathering and documenting comments and suggestions from citizens related to different aspects like housing, cultural and commercial offerings, architecture and urban planning, leisurely activities and so on, the participants' contributions could be documented for the following evaluation. In the online dialogue, participants also had the opportunity to comment on other participants' contributions and through the moderation by Zebralog, conflicts could be solved and additional information provided. In the information container, participants had the opportunity to debate directly with representatives of the city administration and other participants and also turn in their suggestions, comments and statements on available feedback cards. The web-platform also included easy understandable information and pdf-downloads on urban planning and architecture. Furthermore, the web site and the feed back cards also included a short survey based on two simple questions:

  • I often go to the Neumarkt square because...
  • I seldom go to the Neumarkt square because...

This survey run additionally over Twitter, thereby further widening the scope of the survey.

Evaluation Phase

Within the evaluation process, all documented participant statements were sorted in overlapping theme aspects by Zebralog. In this way, single statements and suggestions are independently extracted from the dialogue's complexity. This process makes it possible to sum up the dialog in well-defined results, which can be transparently implemented in the weighting of options within upcoming decision processes.

Implementation Phase

As of this article's writing, the implementation phase had not yet started. It was projected to begin with a public event in the city hall on the 22nd of September 2010. Here, the debate process and its results will be presented and the suggested implementation strategies initiated. This public event is expected to enhance transparency and will also generate broader citizen attention through communication in media based on the scope of the event.

The Dresdner Debatte is planned to continue as a integrated element for participation and dialogue on other sites in Dresden, where urban transformation results in a need for new action concepts or where interest conflicts are expected.

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

The impact up to this article's writing refers to the basic political willingness and the decision to make way for Dresdener Debatte as a new option for citizens and non-governmental organizations to gain a more direct influence on Dresden’s urban development. This ambition is also an important issue for the mayor of Dresden, Helma Oroz as she invited the citizens to take part in the Dresdner Debatte and also personally met up with citizens in the information container on Neumarkt. As a result, the realization of the Dresdner Debate already established new channels of communication between administration and public as well as new working processes within the administration itself.

This must be judged as important steps towards an enhanced dialogue between government and citizens which might strengthen public engagement and thus, a sustainable and vital democracy. The final implementation of the first Dresdner Debatte did not yet start, but results are being currently evaluated and prepared for implementation in decision-making processes. The goal is to integrate the results in a transparent way, showing how realization of development plans and policy documents are influenced by the results of the Debate.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

Specific Effort Made to Include Disadvantaged Groups

The concept with parallel options to participate — online and in the information container — was to secure that citizens not used to using the internet should still be able to take part. This was also important as internet usage often requires good reading and writing skills. Additionally, there was a concept for receiving handicapped participants in the info container.

Specific Effort Made to Strengthen Democratic Capacities

This was one important aspect of the moderation, dealing with questions about weighting different standpoints in order to find compromises or consensus solutions or how to deal with the opinion of a majority versus the opinion of minorities.

See Also

Zebralog - Experts in eParticipation

City of Dresden

References

External Links

Official Website [German]

Project on Zebralog.de [German]

City of Dresden Urban Development & Environment webpage [German]

Panorama View of Neumarkt

Notes

The original version of this case study first appeared on Vitalizing Democracy in 2010 and was a contestant for the 2011 Reinhard Mohn Prize. It was originally submitted by Christina Rucker.