Citizen-centred design of participatory budgeting: A transnational study in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

Among the success factors of participatory budgeting (PB), Barbera et al. (2016b) discuss responsiveness, in terms of “continuous attention to citizens’ needs” and the capacity to address collective needs. To date, there are diverse PB cases, that follow a managerial, more technocratic (less focused on citizens) logic, whereas others target radical democratic change or good governance improvement (focused on linking citizens with the public administration and enhancing transparency) (Bartocci et al. 2019; Cabannes and Lipietz 2018). This paper aims to identify contingency factors, such as national, local and individual factors that influence the design of PB. Thus, a comparative approach is sought by analysing the needs of citizens in 17 municipalities in six European countries along the Baltic Sea region from originally 20,000 persons via a joint questionnaire. Relying on non-parametric tests, this analysis aims to identify links between citizens’ satisfaction, knowledge and expectations of their own involvement in the PB design and how it should be used from their perspective. The contribution of the paper is a critical rethinking of the respective stages and content of the PB creation processes from the citizens’ point of view by highlighting which contingency factors drive citizens’ views on PB design stages.