In October 2022, the implementation of the Good Move plan in the municipality of Schaerbeek led to virulent demonstrations. In the “Cage aux ours” neighbourhood, several dozens of people gathered in opposition. Signs had been dismantled and police assaulted by a few demonstrators. The Municipality decided to suspend the application of the plan and announced a new citizen consultation in order to find a way out of this crisis.
It is in this context that Dreamocracy intervened to moderate public meetings to give voice to any citizen wishing to express themselves on life and mobility in the neighbourhood and facilitate a citizen panel over 4 Sundays to bring out an alternative to the traffic plan implemented in October 2022
An important emphasis was placed on regaining trust
For the project to deliver, Dreamocracy dedicated time to rebuild trust between citizens and the municipality as well as to appease tensions that had emerged among some participants.
We recommended that the municipality draft a participation charter that announced the intentions and commitments of the Commune, the working framework and room for manoeuvre of the citizen panel, and most importantly what was going to happen to the conclusions of the public meetings and the results of the citizen panel ; and we mobilised practices that ensured that (1) all voices were heard and valued and (2) a constructive dialogue could be built amongst diverging views.
These were necessary preconditions for us to apply tools such as visioning and scenario planning, ideation and prioritisation of solutions.
Services provided
- Participatory and deliberative democracy events and processes
- Creative stakeholder management, mediation and conflict resolution
- Recruitment of diverse participants and random sampling
- Visioning and scenario planning
- Smart and inclusive decision making, facilitation of consensus building
Impact
Despite tensions that remained to a certain extent, the mission was completed. Two different traffic plans emerged from the panel and were sent to the municipal council. This process alone will not have made it possible to resolve all tensions and bring about a consensual solution. However – and this is no small thing – it made it possible to bring together residents of the neighbourhood who were able to compare their points of view, learn from each other and bring out ideas. proposals on which everyone was able to comment. The municipality found itself equipped with additional elements and information to guide its decision-making.
