Sociocratic neighbourhood council – making participation continuous and effective

Democracy thrives on the participation of as many people as possible. However, more and more people living in Vienna are not allowed to vote because of their citizenship (City of Vienna 2023). Vienna is on its way to becoming a ‘majority-minority city’ (Lazëri 2023). This goes hand in hand with a democratic deficit and a loss of legitimacy. One way to address these problems is to involve as many people as possible in their local communities (Kohlbacher et al. 2015). The City of Vienna has so far focused primarily on information and consultation (Arnstein 1969). Bottom-up formats that go beyond these proto-participatory stages and demand participation in decision-making have always found it difficult to gain a hearing among political representatives. In Vienna's Sonnwendviertel district, city citizens (Baubock 2003) have been developing a new form of participation for a year now: the sociocratic neighbourhood council (SNR). Around 100 city residents have contributed their knowledge and skills, mostly on a voluntary basis, in two different formats to improve their living environment. This deliberation (Arendt 2018, Habermas 2015) was organised according to the principles of sociocracy, which appears to have had several positive effects for citizens and politicians. This project aims to investigate the extent to which sociocratic neighbourhood councils are a needs-oriented, legitimate and strategically relevant form of participation and what qualities they bring to the table through their local roots and continuity, in addition to the already tried and tested forms of participation. What are the effects for politics and city residents? Following an evaluation of the Sonnwendviertel neighbourhood council prototype and a comparison with citizens' and neighbourhood councils, the SNR will be optimised and researched during a new implementation.