Public Deliberation Research Partnership Launches

An innovative pilot project between the University of Alberta and the City of Edmonton was approved by Edmonton City Council on 29 September 2008. The pilot project will apply leading edge communication theory and practice in a series of public-deliberation meetings. Public deliberation is the direct involvement of citizens in making decisions on behalf of society after due consideration of alternative courses of action and using rational methods of analysis. Convened by Dr. Marco Adria, Director of Communications and Technology at the University of Alberta, the Citizens' Panel will be made up of residents (up to 50) from all walks of life. The Panel will spend several week-ends in the spring of 2009 learning about short- and long-term budget priorities and challenges, using the City's previously completed Vision Project as the context. The City of Edmonton is committed to involving people in the decisions that affect them. The Citizens' Panel is an addition to the ways citizens can provide their feedback on the City's spending priorities. Edmonton will be the first Canadian city to have its budget considered by a Citizens' Panel. The Faculty of Extension is well-positioned to pursue the project in part because because of its recent move to downtown Edmonton and as a consequence of its intention to develop an academic strategy focused on the scholarship and practice of the scholarship of engagement, reflected in the Faculty's Strategic Academic Plan. The Faculty will build on its own status - and that of the University - as a relatively open, neutral, and informed institution that can provide an appropriate community and social space in which to initiate structured conversations about issues of broad public interest. More information about public deliberation and its relationship to the Faculty of Extension's academic plan at: http://www.crsc.ualberta.ca/publicdeliberation.cfm