The Next Era Trondheim – Augmenting Democracy

• September 14, 2017 at 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
• NTNU Dragvoll, Trondheim, Norway
• #nextera
• https://www.facebook.com/events/262153360936414/

Can we recover a vision for democracy in which people’s participation is valued? What would be in it? We as a society can indeed ask ourselves where we want to go in the future.

In September 14-15, 2017, The Next Era discussions on post-industrial era democracy and participation will continue in Trondheim, Norway. The discussions will be part of The Augmenting Democracy event which comprises of workshops, keynotes and experiments with local citizens. The event gathers students, researchers, public leaders, civil servants, citizens, and international democracy entrepreneurs to exchange and build ways of augmenting democracy. Collaboration partners include the city of Trondheim, the Big Design initiative of NTNU’s School of Design, NTNU Bridge, and Technoport.

The Next Era discussion will take place in NTNU Dragvoll auditorium D15 on September 14th, at 12:00-16:00. The Augmenting Democracy event will continue on the 15th with Experimentation Day in Nyhavna.

See more:

• Augmenting Democracy page
• Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/262153360936414/
• The Next Era initiative
• Next Era publication with 12 proposals for reinforcing participation and democracy:
  From the trials of democracy towards future participation

Background of The Next Era discussions on democracy

When voter turnout fell in the 1990s people began to worry about the state of democracy. Policy makers wrung their hands, tinkered, launched enquiries and experimented with participatory budgets. But voters continued to desert political parties and cynicism grew. And then new politicians arrived, from outside the establishment, with a more compelling idea of what it means to take back control.

Can we recover a vision for democracy in which people’s participation is valued? What would be in it? A particitopia of citizen assemblies, budgets and juries? An artificially intelligent democracy? A rebuilt parliament for a new kind of participation?

We as a society can indeed ask ourselves where we want to go in the future. The Next Era initiative of Sitra and Demos Helsinki has set up a series of global meetings to create a shared understanding of societal transformations of our time and start building visions for the next era of well-being.

Earlier Next Era workshops have taken place in San Francisco, Tokyo, London, Helsinki, and Visby.