13 pieces on the wall

The goal of the Chengdu village public service and social management funds is to give every rural village a guaranteed annual budget, booked in the municipal and county budgets, whose use villagers decide, supervise and appraise through an elected deliberative council, so that rural public services catch up with the city's, village self-government has money to act on, and grievances are settled inside the village before they become petitions.

The goal of Orçamento Participativo de Porto Alegre is to let residents decide directly, in open regional and thematic assemblies and through an elected council, how the City's investment budget is spent, so that public investment is inverted towards the poorest neighbourhoods and the budget stops being an instrument of clientelism.

The goal of Budget Participatif de Paris is to let Parisians propose and vote directly on 5% of the City's investment budget, drawing on their everyday expertise, so that ties and trust between residents, elected officials and the administration are rebuilt, public finance becomes transparent and legible, and Parisians learn how their city works.

The goal of People's Budget Cleveland is to challenge status quo ideas about who makes budgeting decisions in Cleveland, so that everyday residents get a say in their collective futures.

The goal of the Nine Neighborhood Fund is to let residents of Central Providence decide directly how $1 million is spent on projects that improve health and well-being for low-income communities of color, so that civic engagement grows among people who face barriers to participation, participants gain skills and a sense of shared responsibility, and elected officials and public agencies adopt participatory budgeting to allocate public funds equitably.

The goal of Participatory Budgeting in New York City is to put decisions over at least $1 million of each participating Council Member's capital discretionary funds directly in the hands of district residents, so that government opens up, civic engagement expands to marginalized groups, new community leaders develop, community is built and public spending becomes more equitable.

The goal of Participatory Budgeting Vallejo is to let Vallejo residents propose, develop and vote on how to spend a share of the Measure B sales tax, so that the city improves through projects that solve real problems, residents who are traditionally underrepresented or disillusioned gain a real voice and new leadership, and a community emerging from bankruptcy regains trust in a more open and accountable city government.

The goal of Ideas in Action is to give Boston residents an official point of entry into the City's budget process, by proposing creative new ideas to address local needs and voting on which projects get funded, and to gauge resident priorities to inform the City's annual budget, so that public engagement and direct democratic involvement grow, collective capacity on issues of racial and social justice is built, and equity and inclusion become embedded in City practices.

The goal of Pressupostos Participatius de Barcelona is to open spaces and channels through which residents propose, deliberate on, prioritise and directly choose investment projects for each of Barcelona's ten districts, to be executed by the Ajuntament within the municipal mandate, so that citizens gain voice and a leading role in managing public resources, direct democracy comes to coexist with representative democracy, and a new democratic culture of participation becomes part of the normal working of the city's institutions.

The goal of Youth Lead the Change is to put real decision-making power over $1 million of the City of Boston's capital budget in the hands of young people aged 12 to 25, and teach them how city government and budgeting work, so that youth are engaged as the solution rather than the problem, the City's capital plan reflects their priorities, and they gain an entry point into civic life that builds stronger, safer and healthier communities across a more unified Boston.

The goal of Harbor City PB is to put one percent of the capital budget in residents’ hands, so that the next generation of leaders comes from the neighborhoods, not the donor list.

The goal of Lakeside Youth PB is to let students decide a real slice of the district’s facilities money, so that young people learn that budgets are arguments they are allowed to join.

The goal of Riverbend PB is to move real decisions about the capital budget to the people who live with the results, so that the city’s spending reflects neighborhood needs rather than council habits.