Questions and answers on public participation
Citizen participation means that people are actively involved in planning and decision-making processes in politics and administration.
The terms public participation, resident participation or participation are also often used in this context. These essentially have the same meaning. In the literature, however, there are also differences in detail, e.g. who can participate. We will answer this aspect in the next question.
All residents of the city of Chemnitz can take part. This does not only apply to citizens as defined by the Saxon municipal code(Section 15). Children and young people as well as people who are registered in Chemnitz and are not EU citizens can also get involved.
The way in which you can get involved depends on the level of participation. There are therefore various options, e.g. taking part in a survey, a discussion or a workshop. For each participation, we will explain how you can get involved, where and for how long it will take place, whether registration is required, etc.
You can find more detailed information on the individual participations in the official gazette, at www.chemnitz.de/mitwirken, via the city's social media channels or in the press.
Participation in a public participation programme is always free of charge and voluntary. In addition, you do not enter into any permanent obligations (one exception to this is the appointment of an expert resident to committees).
You can find specific ways in which you can get actively involved on the following pages:
A basic distinction is made between formal and informal shareholdings.
Formal participations are those that are prescribed by law. These include participation in urban land-use planning(Baugesetzbuch §3). The Saxon Municipal Code also regulates residents' meetings(Section 22), petitions(Section 25), referendums(Section 24), petitions(Section 12), residents' applications(Section 23) and participation in committees as an expert resident(Section 44).
Informal participation is voluntary, i.e. there is no legal obligation. These include citizens' question times, citizens' councils, citizens' dialogues, surveys and forms of online participation (e.g. online dialogues, online voting). Specific examples from Chemnitz include the regular citizens' consultation hours held by the Lord Mayor and some mayors, association dialogues, participation in the construction and renovation of playgrounds and surveys on the future development of the Brühl and local amenities in Chemnitz.
You can find specific ways in which you can get actively involved on the following pages:
The City of Chemnitz's participation portal is a website for online participation. It offers various options such as dialogues, surveys and reporting procedures. Depending on the topic or content of the participation, we decide which format best suits the issue.
The portal allows you to find out about current participations at home on your PC or on the go with your smartphone and to participate directly. As an administration, we have the advantage of being able to address and reach many people via the Internet.
> To the participation portal of the City of Chemnitz
The Citizen Participation team is based in the Mayor's office and partly in the departments. From here, colleagues work together with the specialist offices and departments of the city administration on the implementation of specific projects with citizen participation. The team plans events, prepares workshops, discussion forums or surveys, implements them and evaluates them.
The aim of the Citizen Participation team is to take into account the opinions, views and experiences of the people of Chemnitz and incorporate them into planning and decision-making processes.
It's not just the city administration that offers you opportunities to get involved. In Chemnitz, there are numerous other players at your disposal. These include, for example, the eight citizens' platforms, which take on concerns and problems in all parts of the city and work on solutions.
> Citizens' platforms in the city of Chemnitz
Community coordinators, neighbourhood managers and neighbourhood pilots are also active in some areas of the city. You can find more information about their services, areas of work and contact details here:
> Neighbourhood work in the city of Chemnitz