Europe wide views on sustainable consumption

Abstract

JØrgensen Kozarev and Lindegaard Juul lay out the rationale and methodology for a multi-site citizen participation exercise carried out within the larger framework of the PACITA project. The exercise gathered more than 1,000 citizens at parallel citizens’ summits in eleven European countries, exemplifying the practicability of orchestrating public engagement in connected national arenas across Europe. The authors argue that not only did the events themselves provide comparable samples of informed and deliberated opinions, but also the cross-national collaboration to prepare the events, which involved both central stakeholders and policymakers, served as a vehicle for consensus building among these actors. Based on the response of participants and political recipients, a call is made for further capacity building for cross-European citizen participation.