Democratic Society

🌿 Samenwerken met Stad Leuven, het rendement op biodiversiteit voor bedrijven en het uitbouwen van netwerken – deze onderwerpen namen wij deze week samen met Leuvense bedrijven en lokale actoren vast tijdens onze workshop "Maak van je bedrijfsterrein een groene oase". 🚶♂️ We begonnen met een verfrissende wandeling onder leiding van onze enthousiaste gids, Regis Verplaetse, architect bij Urarchitect. Hij nam ons mee door het Dijlelandschap rondom de Haasrode-site en benadrukte het belang van rekening te houden met de lokale omgeving bij vergroeningsprojecten. 🔌 Baptist Vlaeminck en An Devroey van Stad Leuven spraken over de verschillende manieren waarop de stad ondersteuning kan bieden. An, als adviseur klimaatadaptatie, staat klaar om bedrijven te begeleiden bij hun eerste stappen naar een groener bedrijfsterrein. 🏢 In het Creative Connect Centre van IDEWE bespreken we de impact van biodiversiteit. Een groen terrein trekt niet enkel meer bezoekers aan maar verhoogt ook het welzijn van medewerkers. 💡 We leerden vooral van de aanwezige bedrijven: veel van hen hebben al grote stappen gezet op het gebied van biodiversiteit! Toch is er nog behoefte aan ondersteuning bij het opbouwen van netwerken en het slaan van bruggen. Samenwerken is essentieel, want ambitieuze plannen beginnen bij concrete, meetbare acties. Vanuit Democratic Society hebben we de aanwezige bedrijven een toolkit meegegeven waarmee ze meteen aan de slag kunnen: handige groene tips, een waardevolle contactenlijst en een korte handleiding om partners te vinden in deze missie. Ben jij ook geïnteresseerd in onze toolkit of heb je specifieke vragen? Stuur dan een mail naar hello@demsoc.org. We helpen je graag verder! Wouter Jeuris C-Valley Leuven

📢Only 1 week left for PLEDGE Conference in Brussels! Following feedback from many of you, who want but cannot join us on-site in Brussels, we are pleased to announce that our upcoming PLEDGE Launch Conference will now be available in a hybrid format! 🔎Learn more about the Conference and register for both physical and ONLINE attendance, through the link below 👇 https://lnkd.in/dmAYVwMB ✨ See you there! ✨ #PLEDGEConference #PoliticalCommunication #MediaPolicy #BrusselsEvent Mikko Salmela Tereza Capelos Emilia Palonen Rūta Kazlauskaitė Tomi T. Kanerva Kuokkanen Karen Celis Thomas Legein Gavin Sullivan Philipp Wunderlich Catarina Kinnvall Ian Manners Christian von Scheve Nikos Stasinopoulos (PhD) Katerina Mandenaki Gulnaz Sharafutdinova Ayhan Kaya Konstantinos Vadratsikas Christina Galani Irene Kalemaki Ioanna Garefi Sofia Kantsiou Zsolt Nagy Tatiana Oviedo Ramos Jörn Fritzenkötter Democratic Society Domenico Di Siena Alina Mozolevska

Trying not to write up every event I go to in #NYClimateWeek not least because there are so many, but big thanks to People Powered and Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a fantastic session on Monday morning on democracy and climate change. No panel, no-one doing their emails (except during the coffee break), just a small deep conversation about what we need in the democratic space to bring climate change and democracy closer together. I talked about Democratic Society's work with Nets4Dem and NetZeroCitiesEU, and the upcoming work with Democracy for Transition Coalition and the new Systemic Climate Action Collaborative. Two major risks that were discussed were the fragmentation of actors in the space (we are trying to help solve this with our different network projects) and the polarisation and politicisation of climate action, which is a predictable and predicted backlash, but none the less significant. For me, the most important response to that is to keep on showing that climate issues are connected, and discussing it holistically, rather than getting trapped into defending individual policies (which is almost always going to be a losing game).

Want to make your participatory program shine? 🌟 Our Rising Stars mentorship program can help! Meet one of our mentees, Emiliana Mellone, the founder of Cleanap, who is transforming the way communities engage with policymakers in Naples. When she started her journey, she had a vision: to promote more inclusive policies and foster real collaboration between citizens and decision-makers 🇮🇹 But like many, she faced challenges along the way. How do you win over local officials? How do you make them see the value of involving citizens in decision-making? With the expert guidance of her mentor, she found the answers. "My mentor has been instrumental in guiding my participatory program. His expertise has allowed me to employ effective analytical tools, such as PESTEL analysis and stakeholder mapping, to identify opportunities and challenges in our community. This has enabled me to develop targeted strategies for engaging policymakers and advocating for inclusive participation policies," says Emiliana. One of her biggest breakthroughs came when her mentor helped her craft a persuasive advocacy strategy. Together, they showcased the mutual benefits of participatory processes - how they could benefit both citizens and the local government. Her journey hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it. And now, it's your turn 👇🏼 The Rising Stars mentorship program is here to help you overcome obstacles, develop new skills, and take your participatory programs to new heights. Learn more and apply now: https://bit.ly/4ePyPTm The program, in the Horizon Europe area, is implemented by the Nets4Dem network; it is managed by Coglobal in association with People Powered, with support from Eurocities, Demos Helsinki, Democracy Reporting International, and European Partnership for Democracy (EPD).

We're discussing Climate Neutral Cities – Creating Multilevel-Impact in our Cities for our Citizens! This October, we're attending the session of Adriana Colquechambi zea O’Phelan (Democratic Society), Geiske Bouma (TNO Vector), and Matthew Halstead (TNO)! "Within Europe the Cities Mission on Climate Neutral and Smart Cities has gathered 112 cities that support this mission and work as front-runners to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. But how do cities and their ecosystems work towards climate neutrality? How should we put the needs of our citizens at the forefront of this? And how do we find enough partners and investment money to actually create this impact? This session will share thought leadership from cities, practitioners and researchers that work on the mission towards climate neutrality. Insights are built from the ‘NetZeroCities’ Horizon2020 project." We'll be joining this session and many others at the 2024 Urbanism Next Conference, from October 09-11 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands! Register to join us today: https://lnkd.in/gEzH-wSa #Urbanism #ClimateResilience #Cities

Join us LIVE on LinkedIn! Ahead of our "Pulse of Democracy" workshop, we're hosting an exciting LinkedIn Live conversation about the key role of emotions in shaping democratic participation and collective action.   🗓 Next Tuesday 24th | 🕒 12:30- 13:00h We'll talk about: • Democracy and Emotions: how they influence civic engagement • What is Democratic Design? • Why joining the Democratic Design Coalition 💬 Get involved, ask questions, and help shape the conversation! 🔗 Click the broadcast link in our profile to tune in!