What’s next? How arts-based and creative participatory methods can address the problem of climate assembly follow-up

Climate assemblies (CAs) – a form of deliberative mini-publics – are increasingly used to engage citizens in climate change policymaking, particularly across Europe. There is an abundance of research on the design and implementation of CAs but less attention is paid to what happens afterwards; what to do with the resultant recommendations and if / how newly motivated and knowledgeable participants are engaged. The lack of follow-up action reduces CAs’ potential impact, threatens their legitimacy and disillusions participants. Previous studies have identified the gap in CA follow-up, but there is a lack of research on what processes and mechanisms could address it This article presents findings from a pilot study of arts-based and creative innovations to public engagement via a series of co-productive workshops in the follow-up to South Yorkshire’s Citizens’ Assembly on Climate (2023). It aimed to demonstrate how creative methods such as participatory scenario-making and interactive documentary can be used to engage citizens in CA follow-up and the translation of CA outputs into actionable policies. Qualitative data collected from recordings of workshops, researchers’ field notes and interview transcripts were analyzed through the lens of deliberative democracy. The results reveal notable frustration with the current lack of CA follow-up, overfocus on ‘recommendations’ as the defining features of CAs and an appetite for CA participants and the wider public to be productively and creatively engaged in translating CA outputs (recommendations and proposals) into policy and action. Scenario making was found to enable this process and improve inclusivity.Key policy insights The research identifies an appetite for citizens beyond CA participants to be involved in the translation of CA outputs into policy and action.To enable citizen engagement in CA follow-up, the outputs (usually recommendations or proposals) could be reframed as dynamic – requiring ongoing processes of reflection and interpretation as circumstances change – and thus, the start of a participatory process (of translation, implementation and action).Arts-based and creative participatory methods can contribute to processes of democratic innovation by engaging citizens in iterative co-production of CA outputs.