Participatory Budgeting inspired Oulu’s citizens – nearly 450 ideas for the 500 000 € budget

Citizens sent a total of 444 idea on how the city should spend the 500 000 € budget to develop the city and improve the comfort and well-being of citizens.

Ideas were collected on the Osallistu Oulu website between January 16 – February 15, 2026. Ideas were sent in Finnish and English.  

“A warm thank you to all who participated. The number of ideas shows that citizens of Oulu are interested in Participatory Budgeting. The citizens observe their environments closely and want to improve their home city”, Interaction Designer Anne Kippola-Rinne states. 

From ideas to voting proposals 

Next, all ideas that meet the Participatory Budgeting criteria and are implementable will be further developed into voting proposals. 

“City specialists from different fields will start the thorough work of assessing every idea. We examine, for example, if the idea concerns the city’s jurisdiction and if it is implementable during the year 2027”, Kippola-Rinne explains. 

The evaluation also examines whether the idea can be implemented with the Participatory Budgeting’s budget or does the idea require further large maintenance costs. 

After the development, each idea is assigned a budget and an implementation plan before they advance to the vote. 

The city will respond to every idea on the Osallistu Oulu website – including the ideas that do not advance to the vote. 

Voting takes place in the fall 

In the fall of 2026, the voting proposals developed from the citizens’ ideas will be uncovered. The citizens of Oulu will get to decide by vote which ideas the city will implement. The proposals that receive the most votes and fit into the budget of 500 000 € will be implemented. 

The goal of Participatory Budgeting is to increase the citizens’ participation and influencing opportunities as well as to reinforce dialogue between the city and its citizens.