Centre For Public Involvement - City of Edmonton, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada

About the Centre

The Centre for Public Involvement is a partnership between the City of Edmonton (Office of Public Involvement) and the University of Alberta (Faculty of Extension). It will deliver well researched, tested and effective means of involving citizens. The Centre is dedicated to leadership and excellence in the theory and practice of public involvement.

Click for our prospectus

Our Mission

To provide leadership in understanding and applying innovative practices and new technologies for citizen participation

Sharing Expertise

The Centre will increase the Public Involvement capacity of both the City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta. It will make its expertise available to a variety of organizations and institutions which have a need for well proven public involvement processes.

Community based research

Research projects of the Centre will bring together the unique strengths, expertise, knowledge and perspectives of the partners involved. The Centre research projects will emerge collaboratively and will be community based.

"The City provides a ready and available arena within which to research, practice and learn, bringing experience and ‘real needs' to the research and learning." (Centre for Public Involvement, Prospectus 2009)

Combining scholarship, policy, practice

The Centre is an intentional bringing together of scholarship, policy and practice in a leadership role to develop innovative approaches to public involvement. The Centre will attract and bring together expertise from government, community and academia that can explore and test alternative public involvement practices, based on activities and research from around the world.

International Leadership

The Centre will seek to provide national and international leadership through research, development, and innovation in the theory and practice of public involvement. Knowledge and information will be made available, mobilized, and disseminated as a core activity. Research will utilize case studies from local and global practices.

Context

There is a demonstrated and recognized need for decision-makers and the public to intentionally search out, consider and apply the most effective means for public involvement.
The timing is right for establishing a Centre for Public Involvement. Democratic communities and societies are experiencing a sense of frustration on the part of citizens who perceive that they lack the ability to influence policies and legislation that affect their lives significantly. Decision‐makers in public and private institutions and organizations are looking for ways to respond to that sense of frustration in measured and effective ways – measured in that public involvement opportunities must be well‐researched and tested, effective in that citizens must perceive that they are heard and that their views have been taken into account, and ultimately effective in that decision‐making is facilitated and enhanced. The Centre is a response to these issues.

Benefits of Centre

A broad section of citizens gain the experience of having their views taken into account by decision makers.
Public involvement capacity of City and University staff is increased.
Research into best practices and new methodologies can be researched and shared by the University and City.
Exploring and using a variety of public involvement methods could inspire citizens to re-engage in decision making processes and:
- Help attract a broader, more diverse group of citizens
- Promote thoughtful, considered dialogue that looks for common ground
- Lead to decisions that are more credible, acceptable and sustainable to the majority of people

Partners

City of Edmonton

The City of Edmonton brings public involvement experience with a variety of processes and methodologies. It brings a commitment to public involvement expressed in city policy. It brings administrative and political experience and knowledge in many areas of public involvement in decision making. City practitioners bring expertise and knowledge that will guide and the research questions that emerge from their practice. The City provides a ready arena within which to research, practice and learn.

City of Edmonton, Office of Public Involvement http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/public_involvement/centre-for-public-involvement.aspx

City of Edmonton Strategic Plan- The Way Ahead http://www.edmonton.ca/city_government/city_wide_initiatives/strategic-plan-2009-2018.aspx

The Faculty of Extension and the University of Alberta

The University of Alberta brings expertise in participatory action research and community outreach. It offers a commitment to meaningful public involvement, experience in public engagement plus academic rigor, teaching and evaluation expertise. The Faculty of Extension exemplifies the University's commitment to studying public involvement and pursuing its strategic goal of enhancing its leadership capacities in the scholarship of community engagement.

University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension http://www.extension.ualberta.ca/faculty/index.aspx

University of Alberta Academic Plan- Dare to Deliver http://www.president.ualberta.ca//pdfs/DaretoDeliver.pdf

Contact us

Your participation will support the creation of best practices in public involvement and effective, innovative citizen participation in decision making. Please send us your contact information and you will receive timely updates and information from the Centre. Contact fiona.cavanagh@ualberta.ca, Project Manager.

News and Events

John Gastil- “Four Glimpses of Democracy’s Future: Deliberative Innovations in India, Brazil, Canada, and the United-States”

Watch the podcast of the live presentation by John Gastil that shows four of the boldest and most influential innovations in deliberative democracy, each of which finds ways of bringing citizens' voices more directly into public policy debates. On February 2, 2012 the Centre for Public Involvement and The U of A’s International Week hosted John Gastil, from Penn State University, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada while a live webinar was made available to host an international audience with participants from eight countries. Here is a recording of the presentation with some of the audiences questionsLink to the recorded presentation:

"Thank you all for this. What a great session and great speaker!" – Kim Nayyer (webinar participant, British Columbia)

"Thank you so much! This was inspiring!"(David Schecter, San Francisco)

"Thanks to the organizers, this allowed a variety of people to participate without traveling. A good example of the new media influence." –Tracey Connatty (webinar participant, Alberta)