Pauli Saloranta

Who? 

Pauli Saloranta is an experienced developer of participation and democracy, working as a Specialist on the New Forms of Participation project. His responsibilities include experiments using citizens’ panels in municipal financial planning.

What?

Pauli’s interests are linking participation to decision-making already in the preparation phase, the civic capabilities required by it and the systemic steering of participation. In his view, administration will increasingly be driven by the rise of individual participation alongside traditional community participation.
 
Previously, Pauli’s work revolved around expanding residents’ knowledge participation at the City of Helsinki, whose Borough Liaison activities received the “Open government democracy award” in 2019. Before this, he was a consultant for neighbourhood associations. His background also includes a quarter of a century of personal civic activism.

Pauli has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Helsinki, majoring in Area and Cultural Studies, and a Bachelor of Science degree. In his master’s thesis, he investigated the origin and applications of participatory budgeting in Finland and internationally.

What else? 

Whenever possible, Pauli likes to heat up the sauna and also makes traditional birch whisks to accompany his sauna sessions.