Participative democracy: Brussels residents can improve air quality by contributing to an online platform. 

The “Brussels for Clean Air” project, funded by the European Commission, offers citizens the opportunity to participate in the drafting of air quality policy in Brussels. Alain Maron, Minister of the Brussels Capital Government, patron of the campaign, invites citizens to take part:

“Tell us what you want to change in Brussels, what you are willing to do to change the air here in Brussels and in other European cities!”

To participate, Brussels residents are invited to visit the project’s crowdsourcing platform where a short six-step questionnaire awaits them.

The project is divided into four phases:

1. Until the end of March, anyone can share their air quality problems on the platform.
2. Between April and June, citizens will be able to propose solutions to the most frequently cited problems.
3. Between July and September, they will be invited to vote for their favourite ideas.
4. Between October and December, they will be able to develop public policy proposals on air quality based on the solutions proposed.

In addition to patron Alain Maron, citizen ambassadors are committed to spreading the initiative. Geoffrey Usé, president of GRACQ – Les Cyclistes Quotidiens, and Rozina Spinnoy of Bids Belgium are among them. Other citizens with different backgrounds, such as Martin Keim, Karin De Schepper and Pauline Dessard, have also decided to support the initiative. The campaign and the platform are available in French, Dutch and English. Moreover, the platform is designed to be accessible to as many people as possible.

The Citizens’ Participation Initiative is part of the DigiDEM and CODE Europe projects, which gather citizens’ contributions on air quality in 10 different European countries through crowdsourcing and other means. The project uses the availability of technological solutions to solicit the “wisdom of the crowd” to address, for example, policy challenges.

The participation of the population is essential in this process to enable a true co-production of Environmental Policy between citizens and policy makers.

More information is available here.

Press Contact

Hendrik Nahr
Outreach and Network Manager
ECAS (European Citizen Action Service)
BeCentral, Kantersteen 10, 1000 Brussels
hendrik.nahr@ecas.org 

Anna van de Moosdijk
Campaign and Communications Assistant
ECAS (European Citizen Action Service)
BeCentral, Kantersteen 10, 1000 Brussels
anna.vandemoosdijk@ecas.org