Helsinki residents submit record number of participatory budgeting proposals

In October, residents of Helsinki proposed ideas on how the City should use 8.8 million euros. A record-breaking number of proposals, 1,626, were made in total. There was a 50 percent increase in the number of proposals made for seven districts in the previous round.
Two woman and one man standing in front of a colourful wall
OmaStadi is a City of Helsinki participatory budgeting initiative that allows residents to propose ideas for improving their living environment. Photo: City of Helsinki

The ongoing third round of OmaStadi saw more proposals on the topic of parks and nature, compared to the second round. Learning and skills and the built environment were other popular topics. In this round, outdoor activities and sports were by far the most popular topic, as residents made a total of 562 proposals related to it. However, there were proportionately fewer proposals on this topic than in the previous round. 

Residents had the opportunity to propose ideas to improve Helsinki from 2 to 15 October.
After the end of the proposal submission period, the City will assess the submitted proposals and calculate their estimated costs. At this stage, proposals can also be combined with each other and modified before they proceed to the voting phase. After the voting phase, the proposals that get enough votes to be implemented will be refined collaboratively. The last phase of the process is implementation planning and actual implementation, which can take several years.

“The residents came up with numerous ideas. During the submission period, we received immensely diverse thoughts on how to make our city even better and more functional for living, spending time and working. These ideas show us what our residents value the most,” says Participation Manager Johanna Sinkkonen.

Third round of OmaStadi moving towards voting phase

“As the ideas have been proposed, people have engaged in great discussions around the city about developing their neighbourhoods. That is one of the key goals of OmaStadi: to bring residents together to look at their area’s current situation and needs for development.

You can still join the OmaStadi project even though the idea phase for the proposals has passed. These are great results, since they show that people care about OmaStadi and see it as a way of making a difference. We estimate that you will be able to vote on the proposals in the spring,” Development Manager Kirsi Verkka points out.

Two rounds of OmaStadi have been completed previously in 2018–2021. Under these rounds, city residents voted a total of 119 proposals for implementation in different parts of the city. The total budget for implementing these proposals is nearly 13 million euros.