Good Local Economics

After overcoming scepticism and beginning to take root, can participatory budgeting survive cutbacks and become a potent symbol of localism? Clare Goff reports

In 1989 in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, conditions similar to those found in Britain today provided the backdrop to the birth of participatory budgeting.

‘How does this add value to me?’ he asked. He, in this instance, was a process man. The discussion was about a matter of wellbeing. The process man was asking the question from a position of process. The substance of the discussion was about enabling better lives.