Festival 2024 > Agenda
Agenda
Each day of the Festival will be a deep dive into a different aspect of engaging citizens in addressing environmental issues. The sessions will engage with policy context, bring insights from experts on the recent insights and trends, offer opportunities to participate in hands-on showcases of tools and methods, present accounts of case studies, get out of the box with through participatory performances and try to make sense of all this through group discussions.
Read on to find out about focus areas for each of the days.
Day 1 | 12 June 2024
How can citizen engagement help the green transition?
The past five decades have seen the development of a set of national, multilateral and global initiatives to tackle environmental problems. At the same time, polarisation and identity politics around these policies is growing. During this session, we will explore how citizen engagement and deliberation is addressing some of these challenges, and affecting change in environmental science, policy and wider society, and what lessons from citizen engagement we can use to inform the green transition.
The Festival will begin with a high-level conversation reflecting on the vision for implementing the European Green Deal with citizens.
Speakers: Bernard Magenhann (acting Director-General, JRC), Humberto Delgado Rosa (Director for Natural Capital, DG Environment), Richard Kuehnel (Director for Representation and Communication in Member States, DG for Communication)
Panelists: Charlotte Denise-Adam (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Jane Suiter (Dublin City University), Laura Maanavilja (DG CLIMA), Rich Wilson (ISWE Foundation)
Moderator: Anthony Zacharzewski (Democratic Society)
Workshop 1: The interplay between deliberative and representative democracy in climate governance
This experimental workshop is set up to explore the dynamic relationship between deliberative and representative democracy. Participants will delve the strengths and weaknesses of each model to address complex issues like climate change. Through thought-provoking discussions and hands-on exercises, participants will gain practical insights and knowledge of how these two democratic models can complement each other.
Facilitation: Mark Hessellund Beanland (DEMOCRACY X)
Workshop 2: Building capacity for learning and cross-institutional coordination of citizen participation in local and regional policymaking
Co-creation and deliberative processes of citizen participation may still be perceived as fundamentally burdensome by policy officials and potentially antagonistic to the idea of representation by political representatives. With Commission Recommendation 2023/2836 on Engagement and Effective Citizen and Civil Society Participation in Policymaking and ComPAct Communication COM(2023)667, the Commission has opened up a new horizon for improving citizen participation across EU Member States and recognised the need to build capacity in the area. Through a dynamic conversation with the speakers and the audience, this session will delve into the challenges and opportunities of fostering citizen participation in public policymaking.
With: Nicole Donkers (DG Reform), Matej Miklian and Alexandra Suchalová (Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Government of the Slovak Republic for the Development of Civil Society, Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic), Silke Toenshoff (European Committee of the Regions)
Facilitation: Elisa Vecchione (JRC)
Workshop 3: Integrating citizen participation in local and regional policymaking for climate neutrality
This session will explore how participation (in support of climate-related policy objectives) is conceived and implemented on a local and/or regional level, why it is important for both public administrations and the citizens, how it makes a difference to the policymaking process, and what examples demonstrate that. Challenges, gaps and solutions will be discussed in relation to authorities’ capacities and skills, their preparedness and willingness to promote and support participation towards policy objectives, their aptitude to integrating outputs of participatory processes, and how the latter influences transformations in mindsets, decision-making expectations, and relationships of trust.
With: Marzia Mazzonetto (Stickydot) and Adriana O'Phellan (Democratic Society), Francesco Amodeo (DG REGIO)
Facilitation: Ventseslav Kozarev (JRC)
A Dive into the European Citizens’ Panels and the Citizens’ Engagement Platform
Join a conversation on the new phase of citizen engagement the Commission has developed since the Conference on the Future of Europe. After five European Citizens’ Panels in 2023 and 2024 on topics ranging from virtual worlds to the fight against hatred in society and the recent launch of a new online space for citizen engagement at pan-EU level, what lessons can we draw? What are the data and experiences we can now build on to think about democratic innovation and citizen engagement in the future? What are the human stories behind all this which give hope for the future of our democracies?
With: Gaëtane Ricard-Nihoul (DG COMM) and Colin Scicluna (Head of Cabinet of VP Šuica)
How can we ensure an inclusive green energy transition? Which solutions can address energy poverty while switching to cleaner energy sources? Join the European Climate Pact and the Earth Society in the Peer Parliament discussion: Making the energy transition green and fair! Be part of the discussion, share your ideas and vote for your preferred solutions to make the transition fair. As energy plays a crucial role in the green transition and affects everyone, it is essential to make citizens voices heard in the policymaking process to meet energy and climate goals. Energy experts, Pact Community and policymakers will be invited to join the discussion, facilitate learning and foster participative democracy in energy decisions.
This session is a side event that will take place at Rue de la Loi 107. You can read more about the event here and register directly through this form.
The recent years have seen an increase in violent wildfires, destroying natural areas and taking human lives, often leading to trauma among the individuals and communities who suffer through them. Lament, a performance and installation developed as part of the JRC SciArt Project’s NaturArchy exhibition, explores death from a more-than-human perspective. By stepping back from data-driven responses related to restoration and monitoring, the artwork embraces overlooked stories of transformation in post-wildfire environments. Extending the project to vulnerable communities offers those affected by wildfires a way to develop resilience, voice environmental grief, mourn for the loss and eventually make space for regrowth. The session will begin with the performance, followed by a presentation of a participatory artwork developed by the artist together with inhabitants of Portuguese community of Santa Comba Dão who faced a megafire in 2017. We will conclude with an informal conversation between the audience, the artist and the community representatives.
With: Margherita Pevere (artist & researcher) & representatives from the Santa Comba Dão (Portugal) community
The session is a side event that will take place in iMAL Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology. Register directly on iMAL's website.
Day 2 | 13 June 2024
Can democracy survive without public spaces?
If 2020 risked marking the ‘end’ of received notions of public space and the suspension of public life due to restrictions for Covid-19 outbreaks, the early months of 2024 are marked by recurrent protests in Europe and all over the world, with various demands across the political spectrum. Young climate activists, local inhabitants of many European capitals, elders and farmers, all have claims and stakes over the environment and land. Their claims, at times, become highly visible in public spaces.
The public sphere is, by definition, made by these and many other different publics and counter-publics. A democratic public sphere needs both such diversity of publics to co-exist and mechanisms to ensure respectful political engagement. Space, in this sense, is a basic material infrastructure of democracy, empowerment and societal participation, while dialogue is its fundamental means to enable understanding, agreement as well as disagreement. The second day of the Festival will explore, from different perspectives, democratic living and politics, by looking at contemporary challenges, through the lens of public spaces and by exploring ways to engage with matters of concerns, through arts and prototypes.
Spoiler alert: democracies cannot survive without public spaces!
Join us for a scientific walking tour through selected iconic public spaces in Brussels with urban specialists that will offer an interdisciplinary view of the city.
This session is a side event developed in collaboration with CityTools. Places are limited to 40 people. The tour will last about 3 hours, and the meeting point will be communicated to participants after registration.
The high-level panel will examine current participatory innovations in democracy, and will discuss challenges and opportunities when connecting to everyday bottom-up democratic practices in public spaces.
Panelists: Colin Scicluna (Head of Cabinet of VP Šuica), Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions), Hendrik Van de Velde (Belgium Ambassador, Coordinator Belgian EU Council Presidency 2024), Dominik Hierlemann (Bertelsmann Foundation), Laia Cortina Jarque and Daniel Szymczak (participant of the European Citizen Panel on Tackling hatred in society).
Moderator: David Mair (Head of Unit, JRC)
The expert panel will explore the different 'wheres' of democracy, whether physical, digital or hybrid, and the key importance public spaces have for political engagement, accountability of power and social cohesion. The session will also explore issues of inclusiveness, ownership and enablers to the 'right to public space'.
Panelists: Arya-Marie Ba Trung (DG HOME), Mathieu Berger (UCLouvain), Deniz Devrim (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Marleen Stikker (Waag society)
Moderator: Anna Paola Quaglia (JRC)
Workshop 1: Artefacts to support meaningful conversations between different publics on matters of care
During this workshop participants will have the opportunity to discuss - and experience - how working with prototypes and material objects can support deliberative and co-creation processes in the context of material deliberation as well as arts-inspired methodologies. The showcase will include contributions from the JRC Makers-in-Residence programme.
With: Navid Lari, Léon Reboul, Matteo Villa and Elisa Villota.
Facilitation: Paulo Rosa (JRC) and Denisa Kera (D&O Future Design & Policy Lab)
Workshop 2: Futures Garden
Futures Garden is a pioneering project by the European Commission's Policy Lab, where speculative design meets policy-making. Our platform invites EU citizens and policymakers to collaboratively envision and sculpt the future of Europe by turning emerging global trends into dynamic, interactive scenarios that we can discuss together. In this session we will explore together the topic of ' extending the human perception' and will think about cognitively diverse policymaking. Through this creative and inclusive process, we aim to inspire policy innovation and foster a future that is resilient, sustainable, and reflective of our collective aspirations. The project is developed at the EU Policy Lab.
Facilitation: Erica Bol (JRC) and Elahe Rajabiani (JRC)
A participatory performance.
Join artist Jemma Woolmore for a participatory ritual of transformation. Together we will explore the words, sounds and actions that might transform the conference space and imbue it with the spirit of an aspirational public space. Building on the discussion and knowledge shared during the day's program, this ritual is an opportunity to translate and express those ideas through playful, embodied methods.
With: Jemma Woolmore (media artist)
The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre will launch its new report that provides evidence-based insights and recommendations on how public communicators can strengthen democracies by navigating (new) information ecosystems in ways that earn the trust of citizens. At a time when trust in government is increasingly important to democracy, the report aims to support public administrations in tackling the societal challenges in communication faced around the globe. The report combines state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and insights from experts, new empirical research on the moralisation of policies and values-targeted communication strategies, and input from citizens on this topic to provide practical guidance to policymakers and public administration communications professionals. Much of the evidence points to the importance of listening to citizens. The team behind this report is therefore delighted to share their insights at the 5th Citizen Participation and Deliberative Democracy Festival. We look forward hearing from you at a stimulating session.
With: Mario Scharfbillig and Laura Smillie (JRC)
Day 3 | 14 June 2024
Whose knowledge matters? Local, traditional and indigenous knowledge as evidence in decision-making.
Different ways of knowing coexist. They reflect our values and the relations we seek, care for or afford, with other humans and non-humans. Environmental issues display the complexity of these relations. To many of these issues, scientific and technological solutions can be sought to fix the consequences. However, this is not always the case. Neither those solutions work for everybody and everywhere. It has become evident that the environmental complexities of our times will need to be addressed through mobilising diverse (situated, local, traditional, indigenous) forms of knowledge and knowledge-holders, in other words – different epistemologies – especially when stakes are high, values in dispute, uncertainty of many sorts and decisions are urgent.
Climate change and the decline of biodiversity are such problems, not least because they affect differently humankind and ecosystems. The Arctic region is especially susceptible to a changing environment and new geo-political interests. It is also a region that houses Europe’s only recognised indigenous peoples, who have been living and governing their environment through what is commonly designated as traditional ways of knowing (and indigenous knowledge). There is ample recognition of processes of silencing and colonisation of local, traditional and indigenous knowledge. With these processes, we are also eradicating cultures and rights, research and governing processes. The Arctic region represents an arena where different knowledges continuously meet and interact on environmental issues, and so, the purpose of the third day’s sessions is to bring an understanding of the value of working across different knowledge production systems and different types of knowledge, in both research as well as in decision-making processes. We will be looking in particular at the concept of co-creation in dealing with matters of care.
Speakers: Salla Saastamoinen (Deputy Director-General, JRC), John Bell (Director, Healthy Planet, DG RTD)
Panelists: Britt Kramvig (UiT, Arctic Univ. of Norway), Tamara Metze (University of Delft)
Moderator: Ângela Guimarães Pereira (JRC)
The session will begin with a music and visual performance by Elle Márjá Eira and Morten Hyld Pettersen. The performance and the subsequent panel conversation will engage with the question: What does it take to bring notions of care and cognitive justice into policymaking?
Panelists: Elle Márjá Eira (artist, composer, filmmaker), Morten Hyld Pettersen (composer and producer), Vivi Vold (University of Greenland)
Moderator:Saskia Vermeylen (University of Strathclyde in Glasgow)
Based on the methodology used for the Global Citizens’ Assembly on the Ocean, this interactive session will be a simulation of a deliberation where participants bring not just their own perspectives and experiences, but also aim to speak for - and from the perspective of - the living systems (like the ocean) and future generations. This approached, termed ‘Three-Thirds Method’, strives to bring into deliberation a wider range of voices, this way contributing to a more holistic and just addressing of environmental issues.
Facilitation: Missions Publiques
Based on the skin patters of anaconda, the Kené designs of the of the Shipibo-Conibo people inhabiting the Peruvian Amazon have a deep symbolic meaning representing the geography of the forest and expressing beliefs about the connections between material and immaterial world. During this workshop, facilitated by indigenous artist Metsá Rama, the participants will have the opportunity to learn about Shipibo-Conibo worldview, art as well as culture and agricultural science through hands-on experimentation with the different Kené designs and the techniques for their production (from drawing the patterns to painting the Kené). The workshop will include a guided tour of the NaturArchy exhibition.
Facilitation: Gala Berger (visual artist & independent curator) and Metsá Rama (Shipibo artist, educator & translator)
The session is a side event that will take place in iMAL Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology. Register directly on iMAL's website.
The way ‘Western’ cultures relate to land is often shaped by extractivist and agricultural practices framed by an ideology that sees land as a ‘thing’ that can be owned and exploited for the benefit of human development. There is hardly any acknowledgement of the importance of non-human or more-than-human beings, nor an understanding that we are all interconnected into this world. Against the background of rapid climate change, we are forced to contemplate the loss of land and ecosystems on which we depend for our everyday life. In this informal conversation with Indigenous knowledge holders we explore how we can reconnect again to the land and nurture a renewed sense of place, country, and belonging as the bedrock of a decentred relationship with nature and more-than-humans?
Panelists: Elle Márjá Eira (Artist, composer, filmmaker and producer), Gala Berger (visual artist and independent curator), Metsa Rama (Shipibo artist, educator and translator)
Moderator: Saskia Vermeylen (Researcher, University of Strathclyde)
The session is a side event that will take place in iMAL Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology. Register directly on iMAL's website.