The Lab
a framework, in print

PB System Canvas

A 39-page workbook for designing a PB system instead of inheriting one.

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Most participatory budgeting gets copied off a template built for a bigger city, with a bigger budget and a bigger staff. Then it gets cut to fit. Then cut again.

So stop copying and start designing. Every choice a PB system makes, laid out so you have to actually make it.

How it works

Work through the canvas. Every design decision a PB system contains, named and put in front of you.

Make the calls. Right-size the process to the money, the staff, and the mandate you actually have.

Build for year two before year one is finished, so it iterates instead of fossilizing.