Participation in the City (PAR-CITY)

PAR-CITY examines how and why cities respond to the key democratic challenges of our times. The project aims to understand how urban participatory innovations transform democracy, trust and governance.

The uniqueness of PAR-CITY lies in its scope—bringing together a diverse set of international researchers to tackle democratic challenges across seven major cities, spanning four regions in the Global South and North.

A new international research initiative, PAR-CITY, is set to investigate how cities around the world are addressing key challenges related to democracy, governance, and trust through urban participatory innovations (UPIs). These innovations range from grassroots movements that utilise urban spaces—both physical and digital—to foster trust and reinvigorate democracy, as well as institutional reforms such as open government initiatives and participatory designs for decision-making processes. The project will focus on how UPIs are transforming the way citizens engage with democratic institutions in large urban areas.

Led by Dr Sam Halvorsen from Queen Mary, University of London, PAR-CITY brings together 25 researchers from 21 universities across seven major cities: Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Lyon, New York, São Paulo, Toronto, and Warsaw.

The interdisciplinary team explores how these cities, each selected for their unique contributions to participatory innovation, are addressing some of the most pressing democratic issues of our time. The project has three primary objectives:

1. To establish the empirical significance of cities in responding to the global challenges of democracy, governance, and trust (DGT).
2. To examine the role of digital media, tools, and technologies in either eroding or strengthening DGT in large cities.
3. To advance concepts, models, and theories of DGT through the central notion of UPIs.

“Cities are laboratories for democratic renewal, offering new ways for citizens to engage and shape their political environment,” said Dr Halvorsen. “This project aims to uncover how these urban spaces are responding to global challenges through innovative participatory practices.”

PAR-CITY has secured prestigious funding from the Trans-Atlantic Platform (T-AP) call on Democracy, Governance and Trust, being one of 18 selected projects; its true strength lies in its international collaboration. The project, which will run for three years, has received approximately US$1.4 million in funding from research agencies across seven countries, including ANR, FAPESP, NCN, NRF, NSF, and UKRI.

The project team will produce a co-authored book, multiple journal articles, and a digital platform to disseminate their findings globally.

Project updates

In early June 2025, Fiona Anciano attended a PAR-CITY workshop at Queen Mary University, focusing on theoretical and empirical collaboration. As part of the PAR-CITY Theory group, Prof Anciano wrote with colleagues about the concept of ‘urban participatory innovations’ and how they relate to urban democracy. The event concluded with a joint session to share insights and plan next steps, strengthening global connections for the project’s future.

Participants in the PAR-CITY workshop in London, June 2025.