The document discusses citizen participation in local government planning and budgeting processes using the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. It provides examples of how Dutch municipalities involve citizens in different phases of the cycle. In the planning phase, citizens are engaged through neighborhood budgeting processes and social agreements. In the doing phase, citizens adopt and maintain public green spaces. Checking and acting phases involve citizens audits and surveys to evaluate results and set new priorities. The goal is to improve public spaces, build community cohesion, and increase trust through collaborative, multi-phase citizen participation approaches aligned with the PDCA framework.

1. The Plan Do Check Act cycle
and the role of citizens
1 of 4 series of lessons about participation

2. What will we do
 What is de PDCA cycle
 Yearplanning for the budget
 5 yearplanning
 PDCA and citizens
 Example of participating citizens
 Homework

3. What is the PDCA cycle
 The four phases of a PDCA cycle for are
 P: planning, preparation, setting goals,
reserving money. The city council approves the
budget and goals
 Do: it’s time to implement, government officals
hire contractors or do the work.
 Check: Adjustments to costs and new
information the work may be needed. Is the goal
reached or will the goal be reached
 Act: The goals are (not) reached, it can be done
cheaper, new goals emerge, which leads to P.

4. PDCA circle
(new) priority
Act
administration or council
decides to set new priorities
or work in new ways
Check
Administration checks
and reports on results
Do
Civil servants do or
hire people to do what
was promised
Plan
Administration prepares
council decides on budget

5. Do you recognise the PDCA circle in
your own projects
Are you specific on the goals you want to reach?
Do you evaluate your projects
Are others in your organisation made aware of
your evaluation and results
Does the city council receive information about
results

6. A cycle from elections to elections
There are long term projects in every community
In the Netherlands they can start at any time, but
many new projects start after the elections
This brings te possibility to show the results by the
next elections

7. Setting priorities over a 5-year cycle:
from elections tot new elections
First year:
setting things in
motion
Second
year:
Start new
programs
Painful
budget cuts
Third year:
Implement
programs
Be careful to
promise too much
Election year:
Show what you
did
Decide on new
priorities
Investing in new programs
4th
and 5th
year
Harvesting results

8. When to adress these problems
in a 5 year cycle? Or in a yearcycle?
 Illiteracy
 Traffic problems
 Changing the traffic infrastructure
 Improving the city green parks
 Changing the city parks
 Poverty and People with debts
 Improving school results
 Preventing pollution and preventing climate
chang

9. The PDCA cycle and citizens
Giving reactions on plans is not the only way
Having meetings is appealing to a specific public
And there can be doubt about the results
Therefore it is good to involve residents in
different phases

10. De PDCA circle and participation of
citizens Where do you plan
meetings
Which citizens
initiatives
City conversation on
goals and priorities
Meetings
Citizens budget
Interactive policy
making
agreements with ngo's
Active participation
Adopting green
Right to challenge
Citizens audit,
Participating citizens in
Audit commission
Neighbourhood site visit
Citizens jury,
neigbourhood
budget
referendum,
Citizens initiatives,
civic actions,
protestmeetings
(new) priority
Set by council or
administration
Act
Check
Do
Plan
Council decides

11. Why can citizens use the PDCA-
cycle five years
 In the first year:
 In the second year:
 In the third year:
 In the fourth and fifth year: ?
(Turkey has a five year cycle, The Netherlands a four year cycle)

12. Do you recognise the 5 year cycle
from elections to elections?
What long – term projects can you see?
How is the participation in the planning phase
Are citizens involved in do phase
Are citizens involved in check and act phase?
Does the Citizens Assemblee report a document
about 5 years

13. Which instruments do you use for
participation in long term projects?
 Identify new priorities
 Plan
 Do
 Check
 Act
 In the Netherlands most instruments are about
planning new policies. Do you know why?

14. New participation instruments in The
Netherlands
 Plan: beauty contest for a specific topic,
neighbourhood budget, testing possible street
furniture (benches, playing tools)
– Co-decision: Citizens Jury
 Do: adopting public green, residents run a
community centre
 Check: Citizens audit (look at results, talk to
experts, give advise) Neighbourhood site visit,
citizen surveys
 Act: neighbourhood site visit and talks,
referendum, surveys,

15. Three instruments
& a social agreement
Neighbourhood budgets
Social agreement in Amsterdam
Adopting public green
Co-designing houses and adopting green

16. Neighbourhood budgets
Budget for (municipality decides) or owned by the
residents (residents decide)
Small (2500) to big (100.000euro, 15 per resident)
Money for proposals or small budget for
immediate action
Try to find the undercurrent: people that do not
participate, but have ideas and energy
Best is having a structured procedure for ideas
and decisions that everybody agrees upon

17. Amersfoort: neighbourhood foundation decides
Venlo: professionals assess, residents vote
Deventer: neighbourhood foundation decides,
small actions fast, bigger actions with plan and
budgets to be decided on a meeting of the
neighbourhoodplatform
….

18. Neighbourhood budgets
with Joop Hofman
Joop Hofman stands for participation from the
ordinary and everyday life of people. He helps
municipalities to organise every days
democracy
“The daily energy and sometimes the
uncomfortable practice, is the starting point for
everyone to be able to participate”

19. Neigbourhood budgets
What do you see as positive sides that appeal to
you
Do you see downsides?
Could a neighbourhood decide about green, street
lights and neighbourhood facilities?
Would it be possible for neighbourhood muhtar
and the council of elders of a neighbourhood?

20. A social agreement between
active citizens and the municipality
Active citizens in Amsterdam took the initiative to
come to a social agreement on participation and
new forms of democracy
Agreement with active citizens (“citymakers”), the
council, civil servants, entrepeneurs, ngo's
On: neighbourhoodbudgets, co-producing,
deciding at a local level as local as possible, the
right to bid as citizens for neigbourhood plans in
vacant social real estate.
Using “working banks” or workshops, a way to
solve wicked problems together

21. Niesco Dubbelboer
one of the initiators
https://youtu.be/3MJqKsjUzwo

22. What do you think of a social
agreement on new democratic ways
neighbourhoodbudgets, co-producing, deciding at
a local level as local as possible, the right to bid
as citizens for neigbourhood plans in vacant
social real estate
The agreement also promotes the use of new
methods to act more solution oriented, like the
working banks Niesco mentions
– is it possible?
– is it too revolutionary
– is it representative enough?

23. Some forms of participation
Do phase
Adopting public green spaces
Zoetermeer: adopting green
Utrecht: residents decide on the houses and
public space and maintain the green spaces

24. Adopting public green
Municipality of Zoetermeer
Goals:
 Better quality of public space
 More cohesion within the community
 More trust in together building on public space

26. Citizens adopting green (1)
1. People fill in a application form
2. The location of the adoption green is presented
to municipality
3. The initiators make a plan. The municipality
helps
4. The initiators ask people around
5. An employee of the municipality views the site
and discuss the possibilities.
6. When the plan is approved, an agreement is
signed and approved

27. Adopting green (2)
1. The public green space will be prepared by the
residents for planting in the period from mid-
October to mid-March
2. The plants will be delivered by the municipality.
The district contractor can advise on which
plants are suitable.
3. The residents do the planting and the
maintenance
4. The municipality checks if there are complaints
and may ask for better maintenance

28. The municipality uses PDCA
They are using a sensible system
They set goals for green adoption, like the quality
of the green, like cohesion, maybe the number
of people involved
Start with a pilot in 1 or 2 neighbourhoods

29. Adopting green results
The quality of green space has improved,
People learn from maintaining the green spaces,
Children are involved and learn about plants and
nature and can play with each other.
The residents have more contact with each other.
There are more neighborhoodparties, people
greet each other more often, more trust
The social cohesion is better.
There is less litter in the public space.
But.....It is not cheaper

30. What are your thoughts?
Possible? Or Too Dutch? Or is it already
happening?
Will you see the same effects?
Are there alternatives. Maybe street maintenance?
The stronger the community, the better the public
space, some communities are not that strong:
will they have worse public space?
Free riders who profit from the green but do not
help
The community needs a stable group of persons

31. Designing houses and public green
Municipality of Utrecht
2000: Houseowners and tenants develop with the
architect new houses in the new part of Utrecht:
Leidsche Rijn
The soon to be residents take the decisions on
the houses, the green space and collective
space in “collective private commissioning”.
About the diversity, small and big houses, a
collective space, colours
2021 They maintain the public green, have a
private community space, maintain play ground
in two streets

32. A short movie about the project in
Utrecht
https://youtu.be/zdHJCdEbXlE

33. People deciding on the green space
and the architecture
Decisions are made sociocratic: decisions based
upon “consent”,not having an objection
Notice not having an objection is slightly different from everybody
agrees
Many small working groups that decided upon
specific fields like glass fiber, should there be a
sandbox,
Choices about everybody's own house: standard
plus options
Choices about collective space and gardens:
sociocratic (more on sociocracy later)

34. Adopting the green space results
In Utrecht as in Zoetermeer
 Better quality of public space
 More cohesion within the community
 More trust in together building on public space
 More mutual help
 Not expensive, but costs a bit more then a
green lawn

35. The cons of adopting green
The stronger the community, the better the public
space, some communities are not that strong:
will they have worse public space?
Free riders who profit from the green but do not
help
The community needs a stable group of persons
that take responsibility
New inhabitants did not co decide
There are difficult decisions on maintenance
What are your thoughts?.

36. Participation in the execution of
plans
What do you think could work?
Green adoption
Residents managing their own community center
Residents managing a childrens playground
Residents managing childrens day care
Are those projects sustainable because it asks for
a longer period of time to participate?
….

37. Homework
Try to find examples of participation in the PDCA
circle in Turkey
Are there examples Plan? Of Do? Of Check? Of
Act?
We will check the next lesson