A City Starts with People

A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE CASCAIS PARTICIPATORY BUDGET 1 DATASHEET Title A City starts with People Authors Nelson Dias e Vanessa Duarte de Sousa Publication Cascais Town Hall Printing Letras100Limites Print run 1000 exemplares Design Ana Rita Garcia | Isabel Silvéria | Melanie Marques ISBN 978-972-637-281-3 3 A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE INDEX MESSAGE 7 Carlos Carreiras INTRODUCTION 11 Power of citizenship CASCAIS 13 Brief introduction CASCAIS PARTICIPA 15 Strategy for active citizenship PARTICIPATORY BUDGET 19 Concept CASCAIS PB 23 Methodology CASCAIS PB 43 Resultados COMMUNICATION 59 Strategy PRIZE 71 Acknowledgment BIBLIOGRAPHY 75 WINNER PROJECTS 77 Cascais Participatory Budget (2011-2016) THEMED MAPS 83 5 A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE MESSAGE CARLOS CARREIRAS PARTICIPATIVE BUDGETS: THEY’RE HERE TO STAY Cascais participatory budget is the largest PB all citizens who have been marginalized by in Europe, with more than 15.8 million euros consecutive breaches of trust. invested in 88 projects chosen by citizens. Any attempt to restore trust must, inevitably, Total aggregate of more than 219 thousand go through the recovery of Democracy. votes in six editions. These are some of the In Portugal, the most ambitious projects of reasons that make PB Cascais a story of the re-democratization of democracy have success - both in Portugal and worldwide. been led by the local authorities by deepening Even New York, the city of all cities, wants the tools of participatory democracy. to learn from Cascais new ways to deepen Among all of these, the most successful participatory democracy. has been the Participatory Budget. The PB The question that many people ask is: why principle is simple: citizens decide what to did a municipality like Cascais focus on do, in an open voting, with a specific budget Participative Democracy? allocation. For 3 reasons: It is an exercise that decentralizes decision- 1. Because we like democracy, and democracy making power from politicians to people, is in crisis. involving citizens in the process and 2. Because the crisis of democracy is a crisis dramatically increasing scrutiny over of trust and trust is one of the most crucial executive and bureaucratic power. and precious assets of society. Cascais is recognized by all as having the 3. Because we need to reinvent the relation- largest PB of the country and one of the ship between people and Government. This largest in Europe. reinvention is to save the institutions we love In six consecutive annual PB sessions since and even our idea of community, so bringing 2011, we have accumulated: to the core of the decision making process . EUR 15.8 million in allocated funds; 7 CASCAIS PARTICIPATORY BUDGET 2011-2017 . 1027 proposals from citizens in the initial Secondly because they reinforce phase that have been transformed, for now democracy - when the citizen is brought because the 2017 session is still running, in into the decision-making process, 88 projects after the phases of technical everything is more transparent, more validation and general voting; intelligent and more democratic. 219 thousand votes (the highest number of Thirdly because power can not be subtracted votes per capita). from citizens - once the citizen becomes co- decider, political power has relinquished part Whatever the point of view, the Participatory of its power. Budget has been a success. Fourthly, and lastly, because the awards and As a political decision-maker responsible for international recognition we have gained participatory democracy processes, I have has given us the strength and courage to no doubt that the PBs have come to stay. continue the timeless struggle for freedom. First because they are successful - people In the City, the cradle of Democracy. consider themselves a part of the community and its collective achievements. Carlos Carreiras Mayor of Cascais A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE 9 CASCAIS PARTICIPATORY BUDGET 2011-2017 A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE INTRODUCTION POWER OF CITIZENSHIP When, at the end of 2010, the Cascais implemented since the beginning of the PB Town Hall decided to start the process of to monitor the implementation and evolution preparation for the implementation of the of this initiative in the Municipality proved to Participatory Budget (PB) the following be extremely useful. year, the only certainty was the Executive’s With this book, the second one dedicated to willingness to explore new ways of promoting the PB within a six-year period, the Town Hall active citizenship, strengthen the areas of wants to share the methods (Part I) adopted participation and reinforce the dialogue for the process, the results achieved in the mechanisms with the Inhabitants of Cascais. period under review, and then publicise the This basic condition was not, however, “life stories” of the winning projects (Part II). sufficient to dispel the many doubts that the These include dynamics not always known, team had to face as the initiative’s start date of great innovation, as well as the ability to approached. Its first big test was on June mobilise, whose merit entirely belongs to the 15, 2011, when at 6:30 pm the first Public Inhabitants of Cascais. The promoters of the Participation Session began at the Alto da winning ideas were interviewed and explained Part School, in Alcabideche. From that day how they consolidated the proposals, the until today, the Cascais PB has not stopped discussions held, along with the strategies growing and has become a hallmark of they adopted to involve others. They are the Municipality’s governance, a reference narratives of enormous wealth, which allow at national level, and an example that has explaining the PB beyond the numbers and attracted progressive interest from foreign make us believe in the power of citizenship. delegations that travel purposefully to Portugal just to know the project. The recognition achieved by Cascais PB and the need felt by the Municipality to account for this process are the two main ingredients that led to the need to create this publication. For this, the monitoring system 11 CASCAIS PARTICIPATORY BUDGET 2011-2017 A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE CASCAIS BRIEF INTRODUCTION Located west of the Tagus estuary, between approximately 206,479 residents. This the Sintra Mountains and the Atlantic dynamics of population growth tends Ocean, Cascais is bordered to the north by to persist, estimating the INE that the the Municipality of Sintra, to the south and Municipality had, in 2016, approximately 210 west by the Ocean, and to the east by the thousand inhabitants. In the period under Municipality of Oeiras. review there have been enormous changes In the second half of the 12th century, in the country and throughout the Lisbon Cascais was a small village of fishermen and Metropolitan Area. The Revolution of April farmers. The name of the Municipality seems 25, 1974, the migratory flows from the interior, to derive from the plural of “cascal”, that is to the construction of a wide road network say, mound of bark, which must be related to and the development of the public means the abundance of marine molluscs existing of transportation, the uncontrolled growth there. of the housing stock, the concentration The name Cascais formally appeared in 1370, of investments and economic activities a few years after the expansion initiated throughout the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, outside the Castle walls. alongside the progressive improvement The Municipality is part of the Lisbon of living conditions in the Municipality Metropolitan Area, with its strategic help to partly understand this profound location, which gives it privileged conditions demographic change in Cascais. and a unique set of opportunities for the development of the territory. Cascais has 97.4 sq.m of land area and 119 sq.m of maritime area, and consists of 4 parishes: Alcabideche, Carcavelos/Parede, Cascais/Estoril, and São Domingos de Rana. The Municipality had about 92 thousand inhabitants in 1970, more than doubling this number until 2011, when INE registered 13 CASCAIS PARTICIPATORY BUDGET 2011-2017 A CITY STARTS WITH PEOPLE CASCAIS PARTICIPA STRATEGY FOR ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP In recent years, the Cascais Municipality of the Municipality to the people, to test has been developing initiatives where the methods and to form an internal team. The participation of local people in municipal Participatory Budget, however, marks a management has gained a prominent role, as turning point. This process has the merit of evidenced by the relocation and reconversion ensuring that citizens not only participate programmes of neighbourhoods with illegal but can decide on public investments, origins; by supporting residents’ associations thereby influencing the municipal policies in in the implementation of projects of a very direct and immediate way. common interest; for the work developed The results achieved have been decisive for, from the Cascais Agenda 21 and the different on the one hand, confirming a favourable projects that emanated from it, including the response of Cascais society to the challenge Participatory Budget. posed by the Municipality and, on the other This means that PB was preceded by a hand, to reinforce the promotion of citizen set of initiatives and projects of Cascais participation as a central policy, both from Municipality, within the framework of its the institutional point of view, with the policy of involving the Municipality in the creation of the Citizenship and Participation life of the Municipality. These were essential Division, as operational, with the progressive to follow a path of progressive opening introduction of new tools for citizen involvement. It is within this dynamic that the “In recent years, the “Cascais Participa” initiative emerges. This Cascais Municipality has aims, among other objectives: i) to assign a common identity to the participatory been developing initiatives processes; ii) to strengthen the commitment where the participation of of the local authority to promote citizen local people in municipal participation; iii) to favour the creation of a systemic vision, capable of ensuring a management has gained a link between the different instruments of prominent role.” population involvement.

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