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Participatory Budgeting in Lahti

Propose ideas, develop, vote – join us in developing Lahti!

Do you want to have a say in the future of Lahti and your neighbourhood? Participatory Budgeting (PB) is your chance to submit ideas and influence how the City’s participatory budget is spent. The ideation phase welcomes all residents of Lahti to submit their ideas for the development of their own neighbourhood or the city as a whole.

The total budget for implementing ideas is 200,000 euros. The money will be split into five equal budgets between the southern, northern, eastern and central areas of the city as well as city-wide projects.

You can see the geographical division for participatory budgeting here.

Lahti Participatory Budgeting is implemented on omalahti.fi. 

How are ideas evaluated?

Experts from the City organisation will review all ideas to evaluate their feasibility. To be considered, ideas must be

  • legal,
  • within the City organisation’s purview and implementable during the year 2026,
  • related to one of four themes: Well-being of children and youth, Community, or Sustainability,
  • within budget (up to EUR 40,000 per area),
  • maintainable by the City organisation without incurring unsustainable running costs or having to hire permanent staff,
  • non-commercial, non-discriminatory and supportive of the principle of equality.

 

People decide, the City implements.

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Schedule

  • Ideas will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

    • the idea must be legal, within the city’s jurisdiction and feasible in 2026
    • the idea is related to the themes: well-being of children and young people, sustainability, community
    • the idea is feasible with a participatory budgeting budget (up to €40 000 per region)
    • the idea can be maintained by the city in the future and does not require, for example, unsustainable maintenance costs or the hiring of permanent staff
    • the idea is non-commercial, non-discriminatory and promotes equality

    The city has the right to modify and develop the ideas as necessary. If all criteria are met, the idea will be put to a vote. Some of the ideas can still be developed and modified during the co-development phase from 7 to 23 April.

Participatory budgeting 2023-2024

171 ideas went to the vote. 5098 residents voted between May and June 2023, which is 8% more than last round.

A total of 41 ideas, selected based on the votes, will be implemented in the year 2024. The well-being and leisure board of Lahti has approved the results of the voting process on August 16, 2023. If the budget for the idea that succeeded in the voting exceeds the remaining regional budget (up to 40,000 euros), the next most voted idea that can be implemented within the allocated funds will be chosen. Please see all the implemented ideas and their votes under the regional headings.

Participatory budgeting ideas in 2021/2022

A total of 4,691 members of the public – almost 4% of Lahti’s population – voted in the last round of participatory budgeting. Children and adolescents were particularly active, and the number of voters aged under 18 years doubled compared to the previous round of participatory budgeting in 2020.

A total of 33 ideas submitted by the public were implemented based on the votes. The total budget was EUR 200,000.

The most popular idea with 1,358 votes was ‘Enlisting youth to clean up the city’ (EUR 8,000). The implementation phase will be coordinated by City of Lahti Youth Services, which will mobilise a team of young people aged between 17 and 29 years to pick litter, weed invasive species and clear woodland of forestry waste. The PB funds will pay for, among other things, travel expenses incurred from scouting out areas in need of tidying up and training events designed to promote the well-being and social empowerment of young people in Lahti.

The most popular idea relating to the south of the city was ‘Opening a hobby horse track in Laune Family Park’ (EUR 1,000). The hobby horse track received a total of 918 votes, and the idea will be implemented by the City of Lahti Public Works Department in collaboration with a partner.

The winning idea for the east of the city was ‘Extending the Linnaistensuo nature trail’ (EUR 4,000), which attracted 1,048 votes. The City of Lahti Urban Environment Division has taken charge of the project, which involves investigating the potential of turning the Linnaistensuo nature trail into a circular route.

The winner in the north of the city with 945 votes was an idea to start providing ‘Fishing-rod hire in Ankkuri’ (EUR 2,000). The idea will be implemented by the City of Lahti Urban Environment Division and the City of Lahti Public Works Department in collaboration with the Ankkuri Residents’ Association.

The most popular idea in the city centre was ‘Guarded bicycle parking in the Market Square’ (EUR 5,000), which was also among the ideas submitted in the previous year’s round of participatory budgeting. This time around, the idea received 1,066 votes. The new bicycle parking facility will be managed by the City of Lahti Public Works Department and the City of Lahti Urban Planning Department, and it will be built in collaboration with the youth action group Inspis ry.

Participatory budgeting coordinators in Lahti