Why citizens participation in climate projects is important

EUKI, the European Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, recently interviewed our colleague Kinga Kovacs to promote the Living Streets project. Kinga highlighted the importance of involving people’s in local transition processes.

According to her experience “Our project gives citizens the chance to experiment with public space and to experience for themselves the measures they helped co-create and implement. Yes, sometimes participants realise that their initial vision for their street does not work – but then they can adapt it and experiment with other designs. If you include citizens in the planning process in this way, climate action can come from within society rather than from above. Because when the people own the action, and not the authorities who impose it, climate action can truly have the support of citizens.”

“If climate protection measures are imposed from the outside, they don’t work. You have to give people the opportunity to get involved.”