Participatory Budgeting in Oulu in 2025

Citizens of Oulu may offer their ideas between January 13–26 on how the city should spend 240 000 €. What would cheer up your daily life or bring joy to your neighborhood? What kind of activities do you wish to find in Oulu? Send us your ideas on the Osallistu Oulu website during the ideation period.

“I encourage everyone to consider what they wish to see in Oulu. You can come up with ideas alone or in groups, for example, with your neighborhood or school class”, Interaction Designer Anne Kippola-Rinne explains.

“Go see the Participatory Budgeting criteria to help your ideation. It is good to remember that the idea must be implementable by the city, and that it is within the city’s responsibility”, Kippola-Rinne continues.

You may explore all ideas on the Osallistu Oulu website, you can also write comments. After the ideation period, the city will respond to all received ideas.
 

Ideas are chosen by vote in the spring

After the ideation phase, all ideas that fit the Participatory Budgeting criteria and are implementable will be further developed into voting proposals with the city’s specialists and different operators.

“An implementation plan and a budget are created for each voting proposal. Ideas can be altered to ensure that they can be implemented”, Kippola-Rinne explains.

Later on in the spring, the citizens of Oulu will decide by vote which proposals will be implemented by the city. The city implements the proposals that received the most votes and fit into the budget of 240 000 €.

The goal of Participatory Budgeting is to increase the influencing and participation opportunities of Oulu’s citizens as well as to increase dialogue between the city and its citizens. Participatory Budgeting is funded by the state’s distributed welfare and health promotion fund.