France
City of Lyon (France)
01-10-2024
October 2024 – 2027
31-12-2027
The second participatory budget of the City of Lyon illustrates an ambitious approach to local democracy, where residents themselves define part of the municipal investments. In 2025, the municipality submitted 233 projects to a citizen vote, drawn from over a thousand ideas collected online or during neighborhood workshops. After selection, 90 projects were approved and will be implemented across the nine districts, leading to a variety of developments ranging from new playgrounds to heritage restoration, as well as solidarity-based facilities.
This initiative pursues a clear goal: to place citizens at the heart of decisions that shape their living environment. It is about giving everyone the opportunity to steer public investments toward concrete projects that meet local needs — whether improving the environment, supporting youth, strengthening solidarity, or creating meeting places. The aim is also to encourage a sense of ownership of public space and to strengthen the feeling of belonging to the city, by offering residents direct decision-making power.
The participant profile is deliberately broad and inclusive. Anyone who lives, works, or studies in Lyon can contribute, with no age or nationality requirement. The second edition saw strong youth engagement: 141 ideas were submitted by people aged 12–25, and many projects came from working-class neighborhoods, often underrepresented in institutional processes. The public is therefore highly diverse, bringing together students, families, retirees, employees, long-term residents, and newcomers, all united by the ambition to transform their immediate environment.
Lyon, the third largest city in France, had around 530,000 inhabitants in 2025. Located in the AuvergneâRhôneâAlpes region, at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, it occupies a strategic position between Paris and the Mediterranean. Known for its economic and cultural dynamism, it has also been committed for several years to participatory democracy initiatives to bring citizens closer to local decision-making.
In this context, Lyon’s participatory budget acts as a concrete lever for urban transformation. The process unfolds in several stages: an idea submission phase open to all, followed by a technical review by municipal services to ensure feasibility, and then a citizen vote both online and on site. The 2025 edition introduced new features, such as paper ballots and traveling workshops, to reach a broader audience.
Citizens thus see their proposals become reality: installing public showers for the most vulnerable, creating trampolines in neighborhood parks, or greening schools and squares. Beyond the projects themselves, the experience reshapes residents’ relationship with the city. It fosters a sense of trust in public action, encourages citizens to interact and collaborate, and transforms individual needs into collective benefits. For many participants, seeing their idea voted in and implemented becomes a source of pride and tangible proof that their voice counts. This participatory budget demonstrates that inclusive local policy can truly change daily life, build connections, and give new momentum to active citizenship.
In concrete terms, it has led to a wide variety of initiatives. In the 12th arrondissement, for example, a parents’ collective proposed creating an educational garden on the roof of an elementary school, a project that won the support of many neighbors. In the 19th arrondissement, a group of local associations convinced residents to fund the installation of benches and shaded areas in a very busy square, thus improving comfort for families and the elderly.
In other neighborhoods, the chosen projects had a more social dimension: in the 20th arrondissement, a collective obtained funding to set up a bicycle repair and reuse workshop, promoting soft mobility and the professional integration of young people in difficulty. The 3rd arrondissement, for its part, saw the emergence of an ambitious artistic project: the redevelopment of a former wasteland into a temporary exhibition space, allowing local artists to present their work and organize workshops open to the public.
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