PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING : ‘REVOLUTIONARY CIVICS IN ACTION’
CLIENT: City of Vancouver SERVICES: Video Communications & Photography
Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend public money. The New York Times calls PB “revolutionary civics in action” because it deepens democracy, empowers communities, and creates a more equitable distribution of public resources.Today, there are more than 3,000 participatory budgeting processes around the world, most at the municipal level.
In 2018, the City of Vancouver set out to pilot participatory budgeting in the West End and evaluate its possible future in other neighborhoods. From January 25 to February 4, 2019, Orange Pulp documented the process watching as over 8,600 West End residents participated in the community vote. Fourteen community-identified projects were on the ballot vying for $100,000 in potential funding. In the end, 3 projects were awarded funding and implementation is underway (2021).
Learn more about the project on the City of Vancouver’s website.
Learn more about Participatory Budgeting’s impact in Canada & the US.
