Photo: Kenny Louie from Vancouver, Canada [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D
One reason I’m interested in municipal politics and activism is the seeming impossibility of making a real difference at the national level. Cities and towns seem to be taking the lead in making real change, especially in sustainability. It’s not that we shouldn’t pay attention to what’s done nationally or provincially, of course, but one of the ways smaller scale activism can make a difference is by experimenting with new approaches that might later be implemented on a larger scale if they are successful.
This review of Yves Cabannes’ edited book, Another City is Possible with Participatory Budgeting (2017, Montreal, Black Rose Books) suggests that participatory budgeting can make a real difference. When citizens have their say in developing the city’s budget, good things happen: things like community gardens and markets, accessible public space and equitable development. The book offers examples from around the world, including one from Chengdu, China, which I’m especially interested to read since we’re not used to thinking of China as a bastion of democracy. Apparently, the book is “the first in a series of books that aims to stimulate collaboration between various forms of emancipatory collective action at the municipal level.”
I’m off to order a copy of the book and would love to hear from anybody else who wants to read or has read it. I’ll also post a review later for the first in what I hope will be a series of book reviews.
Road Rage 