Citizen Visioning is an effective way to step back from day-to-day issues and look at the bigger picture. It starts with the unique assets and needs of a place and its people to develop a shared vision of what their community could look like in future.
What makes this approach special is that the participants start with the present day, their values and their concerns, before exploring future possibilities. Having a clear set of ambitions developed by citizens themselves can help coordinate action and lead to better policy decisions. Citizen visioning can unblock challenges by connecting individual ideas or activities to a wider vision for a place.
One of its key features is producing a vision rooted in the community’s lived experiences and hopes for the future.
Description
Citizen visioning brings together a group of local people over a series of structured meetings, typically lasting between three to six days. During these sessions, participants develop a comprehensive vision for the future of the chosen area.
The citizen visioning process begins with participants reflecting on the area as it is now and identifying strengths that can be built upon. These assets can include a range of features, such as green spaces, strong community connections, local workplaces, or cultural hubs. Alongside this, they explore their own hopes and fears for the future.
Throughout the visioning, the citizens taking part learn more about the key issues being addressed. This may involve hearing from speakers with professional or lived experience, visiting relevant locations, or reading background materials. Importantly, citizen visioning uses creative and dynamic methods to spark people’s imagination and accommodate different learning styles and levels of experience.
Over the course of the meetings, the citizens forum takes their reflections and begins to analyse and deliberate on them. Ultimately, this leads to a shared vision in the form of a statement, images and drawings. The vision can be accompanied by practical policy recommendations that can guide decision making.
Used for
Building on existing strengths and what people value most to create a positive, place-based and forward-looking vision.
Because the process starts with what already exists in a place that citizens appreciate, it gives an idea of what people care about most deeply. This approach creates a vision that is genuinely rooted in the local area and people’s experiences, meaning it isn’t generic and provides a clear direction of what matters most in a place.
At the same time, citizen visioning is future-focused and has a big-picture perspective. Looking at the wider picture means it goes beyond smaller issues or day-to-day concerns to identify the underlying values and priorities for citizens. Commissioners can use these insights to guide their decisions.
Participants
Citizen visioning usually involves a group of 15 - 40 people.
Participants often broadly reflect the demographics of the local population, which can be achieved through a sortition process. However, it may be more appropriate to focus on specific groups, such as people particularly affected by the issue.
Costs
Medium to High. Usually, between £75 000 and £150 000.
The total cost depends on several factors, including the number of people taking part and the number of meeting hours. Longer processes allow more time to hear from a diverse range of speakers, and can facilitate deeper reflection by participants and more deliberation - but this additional time costs more.
Costs also vary depending on the level of public communications and other activities, such as launch events for the vision, or presentations of the vision to decision makers.
Approximate time expense
About 3-6 months total.
During this period, much of the time is dedicated to organising the visioning process itself. This includes planning its scope and focus, developing session content, recruiting participants, managing event logistics and publicising the findings.
For the citizen visioning to achieve real impact, there must be a clear commitment from the commissioning organisation. Support from those who have the power to implement the vision is vital, whether they are elected members of a public authority or part of a wider network of actors (authorities, regulators, businesses, community groups, and citizens). Building understanding of and support for the process among people who can act on the recommendations requires time investment both before and after the meetings take place.
Strengths
- Citizens are meaningfully involved in decisions that affect them and can provide guidance, increasing their buy-in to subsequent actions and changes
- Visioning provides valuable insights into citizens’ perspectives. It produces a big-picture view that looks into the future and creates a complete vision for an area
- Its asset-based approach means it identifies how to build on existing assets and strengths in a place, rather than just focusing on problems
- The learning and deliberation in the visioning process give participants a wider perspective and alternative views when developing their recommendations. This supports them to consider trade-offs, understand complex concepts and create new ideas for addressing challenges
Weaknesses
- Because of their size, the outcomes of the citizen’s visioning are not statistically significant
- As the participants learn new information, talk with one another and deliberate their views will likely change. This means that the final views are not representative of the general public who have not been in the deliberative process
- The process of organising the meetings has financial and time costs for the organisers
- The format can exclude certain residents who cannot attend longer, formal meetings. Overcoming barriers to participation requires staff support and additional costs, such as for translation services or to reimburse childcare expenses
Find out more
You can see examples of citizen visioning projects by following the links below: