Realisation of participatory budgeting in the Urban Environment Division

Assessment objective

The main question of the assessment was whether the Urban Environment Division has implemented participatory budgeting in accordance with legislation and the City’s policies. To assess this, it was determined whether the Urban Environment Division has implemented the ongoing and completed participatory budgeting projects in accordance with the City’s policies, whether the Urban Environment Division has involved local residents in the implementation phase of participatory budgeting, whether the borough liaisons have helped local residents implement participatory budgeting and whether the Urban Environment Division has taken steps to also involve less active groups.

Conclusions

City residents have been offered diverse and effective opportunities to participate. Implementation has also been largely in line with the City’s policies, with the exception of a few projects exceeding their schedule and budget. There were also no efforts to extensively involve different resident groups in the implementation phase. The Urban Environment Division has involved residents in the implementation phase of participatory budgeting, but this has mainly concerned residents who came up with plans. The involvement of residents and communications on the implementation of the projects were not fully in line with the City-wide implementation principles of participatory budgeting. Communication on social media was successful, but there was outdated or unclear information on the project website. As the projects were mainly communicated on digitally, a lack of digital tools or skills, for example, prevented some residents from being informed about the progress of the projects.

A few of the projects in the first round of participatory budgeting exceeded their budget. The excess costs are paid from the division’s budget instead of the participation fund. The actual costs cannot therefore be monitored based on the realisation of the participation fund.