Citizen participation in decision‐making processes: knowledge sharing in knowledge cities

The purpose of this paper is to address the subject of knowledge citizenship from the perspective of citizen participation in their city's decision‐making processes. It focuses on a case study of the city of Holon, Israel.

This paper presents three distinct methods for citizen participation processes which were used by Holon: citizen‐based consensus conference, neighborhood conversations, and knowledge café sessions, all of which allow the municipality to implement citizen participation as part of its routine, fluent operations.

The story of Holon presents the methods and processes for the creation of citizen dialog aimed to allow a city to develop itself into a knowledge city.

The case study shows how the theory of knowledge cities can be transferred into actual practicality. It describes three different ways to combine knowledge sharing in a city as part of the town's development into a knowledge city. Holon's experience can serve other cities to learn what processes are more suitable and applicable for them.