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Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 869

Citizen participation in Chemnitz is being further developed

Today, the City Council decided to further develop citizen participation in Chemnitz. The aim: citizen participation will be implemented as a matter of course in all relevant areas of administrative action. In future, citizens will be involved at an earlier stage, in some cases using new formats.

An important element is a participation platform on which all current participations can be tracked; in addition, a catalogue of participation formats is to be developed, networking expanded and further citizen platforms established. The residents' meetings will be given a new format in the coming year.

Early and comprehensive participation

Citizen participation is not new in Chemnitz. Nevertheless, preparations for the expansion and reorganisation of the existing instruments and formats have been underway since spring.

For example, early involvement of parents, children, residents or users in measures in schools, daycare centres, after-school care centres, playgrounds and local sports facilities is the aim as an essential standard. This also applies to long-term concepts, strategies and plans, such as the Chemnitz strategy, the transport planning currently underway, new urban development concepts or the masterplan for the zoo.

Depending on the starting point - clarification of a specific issue or discussion of strategic development lines - the formats and possibilities differ. Communicating these differences is crucial for success: What is the aim of the current participation? What are the expectations? What should and what can be decided based on the specific circumstances? What happens to the proposals?

Overview: The planned formats

  • Development of an online participation platform to bundle all municipal citizen participation formats - regardless of the department in which they are carried out. As a central point of contact for citizens, the participation platform will display all of the city's upcoming and implemented participation processes and their results.

 

  • Development of a catalogue of formats for citizen participation, in particular for early involvement in the development of tasks and planning with

    • target group-specific offerings and
    • offers for a broad public
      • on site,
      • at a central location or
      • with online participation

 

  • Expansion of networking with existing participation formats and contacts such as citizens' platforms, community coordinators and neighbourhood managers and active involvement in upcoming participations.

In addition, an association database is to be set up on chemnitz.de to promote the networking of stakeholders. An annual event is planned between the mayor and the city's associations for regular dialogue, as well as one between the mayors and the associations in their respective areas of responsibility.

  • The comprehensive introduction of citizen platforms in areas not covered by local councils will be integrated into the topic of citizen participation. To this end, a process will be launched in which potential platform operators can apply to the City of Chemnitz. In addition, the self-organised establishment of local citizen platforms will be further encouraged and supported.

 

  • The residents' meetings will be expanded into a dialogue format from 2019. Experience in recent weeks has shown that a more direct exchange is possible within a dialogue format along the lines of the "Sachsengespräch" or the "Im Gespräch bleiben" series. Accordingly, from 2019, the events will be organised in such a way that an exchange at themed tables with the Lord Mayor and the mayors will be possible.

External experts will be involved in the development of the guidelines for citizen participation, which will define the city administration's self-image and binding formats after the pilot phase. This should support both the development processes with citizens and the corresponding workshops within the administration.

Personnel and financial resources

The resolution also provides the necessary resources to expand citizen participation in Chemnitz. An annual sum of 100,000 euros will be made available for the organisation of participation processes, public relations work and external support, among other things. 10,000 euros each will be made available directly to Departments 3, 5 and 6. Within Departments 3, 5 and 6, one position each is to be created for the realisation of additional participation formats. Two positions will be created in the Mayor's Office to further develop the participation formats within the administration, support the departments in their implementation and oversee central elements such as the participation platform.