In October, Helsinki residents can submit proposals(Link leads to external service) on how to make the city a more pleasant place to live via the OmaStadi website. The City is also organising a numbers events at its service points to provide residents with support(Link leads to external service) for coming up with proposals.
Residents can submit proposals about anything that the City does. The allocated funds can be spent on the City’s services, procurements and investments. Alternatively, residents can propose something completely new that could be included in the City’s services or operations. The participatory budgeting ideas and proposals must meet certain criteria.
“OmaStadi is a great way of hearing and realising residents’ wishes. I am proud that we have been able to make this dialogue work so effectively. The Urban Environment Division implements many of the ideas that originate from residents themselves,” says Deputy Mayor Anni Sinnemäki.
“The important aim of OmaStadi is to invite all city residents to participate in the discussion on how the city should be developed. We will be organising dozens of events in different parts of the city, paying particular attention to the target groups that need support for participation, such as young people and older people,” says Development Manager Kirsi Verkka.
Residents’ ideas refined into detailed proposals collaboratively
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 are refined collaboratively. The last phase of the process is implementation planning and actual implementation, which can take several years.
“Many of the proposals submitted during previous rounds have already been turned into reality in different parts of the city. Each of these implemented proposals has made our city an increasingly better place to live and operate in. For many residents, OmaStadi has been an eye-opening and empowering experience, an opportunity to be involved and participate in the management of common affairs,” says Participation Manager Johanna Sinkkonen.
The City of Helsinki has organised two rounds of participatory budgeting under the name OmaStadi during 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 EUR 13 million.
