European inventory of
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Rössel & Fritsch – Participatory budgeting: Opportunities, successes, and organisational constraints

Rössel, J. & L. Fritsch (2023). Participatory budgeting: Opportunities, successes, and organisational constraints

This case study examines an example of participatory budgeting in the City of Zürich that aimed to achieve greater inclusion of population groups that are otherwise less well integrated into the political process. A special dividend from the Zürcher Kantonalbank made 540,000 Swiss francs available for the pilot project. City residents could use this as a basis to submit ideas for projects requiring less than 10,000 Swiss francs in the summer of 2021. The proposed ideas were then voted on in a digital process in a second step in the fall of 2021. In 2022, the accepted proposals could be implemented.
In this case study, authors examined the extent to which the goal of inclusion could be achieved in the pilot project. Our analysis shows that the idea of inclusion was clearly addressed in the projects. However, more marginal population groups, such as people with a migration background or socially disadvantaged groups of people, were hardly addressed. Also, the projects accepted in the voting tended to be supported by specific interest groups and focused thematically mainly on environmental sustainability. One explanation for this result could be that it is primarily academically educated with an urban left-wing orientation and thus privileged people who are enthusiastic about such projects. They are then more likely to bring in topics and addressees strongly shaped by the discourse in the academic milieu. The pilot project mobilised many committed people in the city who generated diverse and creative ideas. In this way, the budgeting process, which is usually top-down, could be opened up to the needs and wishes of the city's residents. However, it became clear here that another challenge of participatory budgeting is to fit the diversity and creativity of ideas into the city administration’s regulations and responsibilities.