The City of Wuppertal's Citizen Participation Guidelines were evaluated. The results have been available since mid-2024. Regular evaluation is already stipulated in the guidelines themselves. After 5 years of existence, the Citizen Participation Advisory Board suggested in 2022 that the evaluation should now be carried out. The aim of the evaluation should be to check what has worked well so far in terms of the structure, implementation and realization of citizen participation in Wuppertal and where there is still room for improvement. The results can be found at the bottom of this page.
The guidelines for citizen participation describe the framework for concrete participation projects in the city. The quality criteria formulated therein for good citizen participation are the benchmark for participation processes in Wuppertal. The guidelines were developed in 2017 in a broad process involving citizens, representatives of the administration and Wuppertal politicians.
After 5 years of existence, the Citizen Participation Advisory Board suggested in 2022 that an evaluation should now be carried out. The aim of the evaluation was to examine what has worked well so far in terms of the structure, implementation and realization of citizen participation in Wuppertal and where there is still room for improvement.
The Berlin Institute for Participation ( BIPAR for short) was commissioned to evaluate the guidelines. BIPAR has already examined the implementation of the guidelines for citizen participation in other (major) German cities using a standardized procedure, for example in Heidelberg and Erfurt. You can read more about this here .
As part of the evaluation, the experiences of all stakeholders affected by citizen participation in Wuppertal were taken into account. These include
- the people of Wuppertal
- political decision-makers
- city administration
In winter 2023, the Berlin Institute for Participation interviewed both the citizen participation team and various specialist planners from the city administration. In spring 2024, political decision-makers and representatives of the citizens on the Citizen Participation Advisory Board were also interviewed. BIPAR also analyzed extensive documents, reports, concepts and resolutions.
From February 5 - 23, 2024, the people of Wuppertal were able to take part in a survey on the topic of "How well does citizen participation work in Wuppertal?" via talbeteiligung.de. Over 850 people took part. Thanks to everyone who took part!
The results of the evaluation were presented to the Citizen Participation Advisory Board in July 2024. In a workshop, it derived measures from the recommendations, which the City Council in turn adopted in November 2024. The Citizen Participation Team will now work with the advisory board to develop a concept to implement the measures in the coming months.
In its final report, the Berlin Institute for Participation concludes: "Overall, the guideline-based citizen participation in Wuppertal realizes the current standards of good participation" (p. 12). However, the Institute also proposes a number of measures to improve citizen participation in Wuppertal. You can download the complete final report below:
The measures recommended by the Citizen Participation Advisory Board were approved by the City Council at its meeting on November 11, 2024.
The Citizen Participation Team will now work with the Advisory Board to develop a concept to implement the measures in the coming months.
