Climate change as the subject of citizens’ assemblies in Polish cities

Abstract

Citizens’ assemblies are a relatively new public planning process in Poland which can be implemented at all levels of administration. This article aims to present the citizens’ assembly as a tool for local development. Citizen consultations carried out in the deliberative formula of citizen assemblies in Polish cities were analysed. This article focuses on the substantive goals and results of the local deliberation process using the citizens’ assembly tool. This research covers all cities in Poland that implemented it. Taking into account the experience of Polish cities, the analysed period is 2013–2023. Of the identified processes, in-depth research covered those whose main theme was climate change. They include (in chronological order): Gdansk, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Lodz, and Rzeszow.

Keywords

• citizens’ assembly
• climate change
• deliberation
• sustainable development
• local policy