Sustainable futures: citizens’ imaginaries for democratic participation practices

To address global sustainability challenges, novel ways to engage citizens in governance are sought. However, citizens’ perspectives and expectations regarding their participation in shaping sustainability transformation are often neglected in research and practice. This article aims to address this knowledge gap by exploring how citizens envision democratic participation in the pursuit of a sustainable future. The approach draws on findings from visioning exercises conducted with over 100 citizens across five European countries. These citizens were part of mini-publics that participated in Democracy Labs held in five cities. They were selected based on socio-demographic criteria such as gender, age, employment status, and education, with attention to including underrepresented groups. The analysed imaginaries reveal that citizens favour democratic practices integrated into daily life rather than occurring in distant, designated venues. An idealised concept of embedded participatory governance emerges from citizens’ visions, which depict multiple decision-making nodes influencing regional, national, and even international resolutions. Citizens expect traceability and transparency of decision-making at the local, national, regional, and transnational levels. Addressing these expectations, this article provides insights for policymakers and sustainability scholars on citizens’ perceptions of a functional democracy, highlighting the requirements for new spaces for citizenship and for legitimate, impactful processes of collective participation in sustainability governance.