Participatory Seattle

Participatory Seattle aspires to be the first U.S. city to implement the Participatory City program, a UK-based model for cultivating bottom-up participation, civic engagement, and entrepreneurship. Participatory City is a proven model for creating large-scale, fully inclusive, participatory ecosystems of practical projects and activities. Participatory Seattle is working to set-up the organizational infrastructure to bring this model to Seattle and beyond.

How it Works

The folks at Participatory City have done the homework to identify the barriers that keep people from starting or participating in community-led initiatives, and then created a support system to help grow a “participatory ecosystem” of low-threshold/low-committment opportunities civic engagement.

On the ground, Participatory City’s support system takes the form of a staffed and financially supported neighborhood community center. It serves as a sort of incubation space – anyone who shows up with a community idea can work with a staff member to refine their ideas, get a prototype off the ground, or meet other people already doing similar work.

If you would like to learn more, Participatory City has a lot of great resources on its website. I would especially recommend the Illustrated Guide to Participatory City.

Results

Participatory City has partnered its work with top-notch data-driven research. Their data shows incredible successes: increased community health, reduced inequality, combatted gentrification, decreased isolation, and more. 

In its first two years of operation, Participatory City’s flagship project in the London neighborhoods of Barking and Dagenham has involved more than 5,000 people in over 130 projects and 70 locations, generating 28,000 hours of people spending time together.

Participatory City has demonstrated that our economic, public, and political health is intrinsically linked to our place-based connections to each other. 

in Seattle

Participatory Seattle could take on several different forms. It could be driven by a city agency, like the Department of Neighborhoods, or be driven by philanthropic investment.

This project is actively working on securing development funding to help build partnerships, cover incidental expenses, develop budgets and refine work plans.

Participatory Seattle would like to get a group of civic leaders to travel to England to see Participatory City working first hand. These leaders would bring the knowledge back to Seattle to make Participatory Seattle a huge success!

Donations are tax deductible.Contact us to let us know if you would like to volunteer directly with this project.

Project Leaders

Eric Higbee is a licensed landscape architect, community organizer, author, University of Washington lecturer, and former non-profit executive director. His work resides at the intersection of design and placemaking with community building.

Jenny Calhoun is an Organizational Development professional, dialogue facilitator, and advocate for inclusive design practices. She's passionate about supporting community leaders, and facilitating diverse stakeholder conversations to build engaged communities.