Brussels City District Councils

The municipality of Mechelen wanted to involve the citizens more in the political life and therefore gathered in May 2021 a panel of 50 randomly selected citizens to discuss the question of the balance between a lively and a peaceful city—the recommendations resulting from this process have been forwarded to the local institutions for implementation.

In 2020, the municipality of Saint-Gilles has set up a permanent citizens' council, made up of 35 Saint-Gilles inhabitants, in order involve residents in the development of public policies, encourage citizen participation and improve the interaction between residents and elected officials.

Since 2020, the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region and the French-speaking Parliament of Brussels organize joint commissions bringing together citizens chosen by lot and elected officials to formulate recommendations on various topics that are then dealt with in the Parliament.

In 2020, 38 citizens from the municipality of Oud-Heverlee were chosen by lot to discuss the future of the "Zoet Water" site and to formulate proposals for the municipal council, in order to co-design with the local institutions the future of this important territory of the municipality.

Since 2019, the German-speaking Community has adopted a decree for a “permanent citizen dialogue”, a deliberative model consisting of a permanent council of citizens drawn by lot initiating occasional assemblies of citizens also drawn by lot, who deliberate and formulate recommendations around a theme defined by the citizen council.