The laboratory of participation
Where shared decisions are made.
About us in brief
InnoK's participation laboratory
Civic Lab is one of the three laboratories of the InnoK Knowledge Management Institute. While Urban Lab develops urban systems and Living Lab carries the methodology and research, Civic Lab pursues a single question: how can residents be made meaningful participants in shaping shared matters and preparing decisions in their own environment.
We don't run opinion polls. We don't hold town-hall meetings where people voice their complaints and then go home. We build processes that end in a decision that gets implemented — with randomly selected participants reflecting the district's main demographic characteristics, a moderated deliberative debate and expert background materials.
Citizens' Assembly
Where suggestions made collectively by the citizens of the district.
Randomly selected residents sit down together to form their position on a specific district matter — with expert support.
What is a citizens' assembly?
A tool of deliberative democracy: not a vote, but shared thinking — informed, moderated, documented.
Find out →How do we select participants?
Random but stratified selection: participants mirror the district by age, gender and place of residence.
Methodology →Our past assemblies
What we discussed, who took part and what became of the decisions — every meeting documented.
Take a look →Latest assembly
The 4th citizens' assembly has concluded — 3–4 October 2026. · The residents selected by draw deliberated on the district's cycling development, turning the route of the former "Burma vasút" railway line into a cycling and green corridor. See how it went → · You can still register for the random selection pool.
Our services
What we offer local governments and organisations
Organising a citizens' assembly
The full process from framing the topic, through selecting participants, to the closing recommendation.
Focus groups and in-depth interviews
Qualitative research for when you need to understand what lies behind the numbers.
Moderation and facilitation
Tense topics, multi-stakeholder negotiations — with neutral, trained moderation.
How we work
The five steps of the participatory process
Participation is not an event but a process. These five steps are what distinguish genuine engagement from a token consultation.
Framing the question
We phrase a question the decision-maker is genuinely willing to answer.
Selecting participants
Stratified random sampling, so the group reflects the community.
Learning
Balanced background materials and experts — from several perspectives.
Deliberation
A moderated debate where participants also hear each other's arguments.
Recommendation and feedback
A written recommendation, and a public answer on what was actually implemented.
Our projects
What are we working on right now?
Featured project
The 4th citizens' assembly has concluded
3–4 October 2026. The district residents selected by draw deliberated on the district's cycling development — turning the route of the former "Burma vasút" railway line into a cycling and green corridor — comparing three design variants.
The recommendations are now being summarised and the local-government response prepared. See how the assembly went →
Knowledge base
The methodology of participation
What's worth knowing about deliberative democracy, sortition-based sampling and citizen engagement.
What is deliberative democracy?
Why a citizens' assembly is different from a referendum or a town-hall meeting.
Read it →Stratified random sampling
How 60 people become a faithful miniature of the district.
Read it →What happens to the recommendations?
The meeting makes no binding decision — but every recommendation gets a public answer.
Read it →
Would you like to involve residents in a decision?
We design participatory processes for local governments, institutions and civil-society organisations — from framing the question to the recommendation that gets implemented.