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This op-ed piece is part of a series written by Fellows of the Salzburg Global Seminar program “Public Policy New Voices Europe” 

This op-ed was written by Nadia Hafedh, Mariam Dawood, and Diana Raiselis.

Imagine, for a moment, that it's 2053, 30 years into the future. You're a resident of the City of Salzburgia, where citizen engagement is effortless, inclusive—and maybe even enjoyable. 

One morning, you and your neighbors wake to news of an upcoming community meeting on an important issue. It’s easy to find the time: multiple meeting times are offered across the week, with free transport, food, and childcare provided. All employers must offer paid time off for civic participation, and stipends are available for those who freelance or are out of work. Before the meeting, you receive a magazine-style info sheet containing the facts, arguments, and equity analyses, plainly described in multiple languages. You text a couple of questions to a city hotline and get quick answers.

At the meeting, you grab lunch and plug into a translation app to listen in your first language. Facilitators actively engage with attendees to answer questions, gather insights and provide support. A task force of residents is selected to study the issue further, with paid leave and support. As the meeting ends, you chat with a student reporter who’s covering the meeting as part of their civic education core class. You think back briefly to when this approach was adopted in the mid-2030s and how feelings of civic engagement and belonging have skyrocketed since then.

As Salzburg Global Fellows, Ana Rold of the World in 2050 posed us the question this past fall: "How do we innovate for a future that is more Star Trek and less Mad Max?" As policymakers, organizers, and researchers focused on empowering communities, we looked to one key challenge of equitable citizen participation.

When it comes to participating in policymaking processes, marginalized communities often encounter obstacles, including underrepresentation, discrimination, language barriers, limited time and resources, and a lack of trust in government institutions. Effective citizen engagement can address these issues by giving marginalized groups a voice in decision-making and ultimately restructuring cities in ways that benefits all members. However, despite municipal efforts to make engagement inclusive, marginalized communities continue to face barriers to participating in decisions that most directly affect them. 

We suggest five main points for cities to improve citizen engagement and make it more inclusive and effective. These are based on analyzing the drawbacks of current consultation methods and envisioning a better future:

1. Center "experts by experience" and those most affected by an issue. Challenge the traditional emphasis on professional or academic experience. As the proverb goes, “He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches.” 
2. Provide material support to reduce barriers to involvement: provide participation stipends, and for in-person functions, food and childcare.
3. Meet people where they are. Use language reflective of citizens' experiences, and perform meaningful outreach to ensure that citizen participation in an initiative reaches those it will affect most.
4. Address biases and inequalities to ensure that marginalized groups do not come to harm through these processes. Identify unconscious biases and unequal structures. Build trust with historically excluded groups. 
5. Give residents actual power to influence, design, and implement solutions. As in Arnstein’s ladder of participation, move beyond simply informing or consulting the public, to a focus on collaborative governance, in the spirit of “Nothing about us without us.”

And while “Salzburgia” may sound utopian, many elements come from approaches to civic engagement that are already in action.

Originating in Porto Alegre, Brazil, participatory budgeting is now being enacted in cities like Wuppertal, Germany. Universal Basic Income advocates are drawing the link between cash stipends and increased democratic participation. Organizations like Singapore’s Participate in Design prioritize communities’ involvement in designing housing and urban planning projects. London’s The Politics School fills a civic education gap in the national curriculum by engaging young people from primary school to university in politics, democracy, and change-making through fun and interactive activities. The USA’s HeadCount makes it easy to register to vote at Ariana Grande concerts or RuPaul’s DragCon. And countries across the EU are lowering the European Parliament voting age to 16—a move linked to greater participation, even years later.

 Our vision of the future is reflected in the values behind these diverse initiatives: 

• Breaking down barriers to participation, 
• Putting marginalized groups like youth first, 
• Empowering citizens in decision-making, and 
• Seeing civic responsibilities as something capable of being joyful. 

Inclusive citizen engagement is not an unattainable utopian vision but rather a reality that can be achieved. By addressing the root causes of suffering and empowering all individuals to have a voice in shaping their communities, we can work towards a better future for all.

The authors of this article wish to thank Salzburg Global Fellows Tunji Offeyi, Nex Bengson, Constantin-Alexandru Manda, and program mentor Robb Gray for their contributions and development of the ideas in this piece.