Co-creation and co-production in municipal risk governance – A case study of citizen participation in a German city

ABSTRACT

Municipal risk governance requires a communication-oriented approach that involves citizens in order to foster risk resilience. This study argues that citizen participation mechanisms enable citizens to co-create and co-produce risk governance. The paper draws on the case of a German city, including 45 interviews with experts from the municipality’s administration. The results indicate that citizens play a vital role in the risk identification and risk management of institutional and social, collective risks by providing time, information, and other resources. Specific citizen participation mechanisms can even help to handle system risks by fostering acceptance and loyalty.

KEYWORDS:

• Public risk governance
• citizen participation
• co-creation
• co-production
• resilience

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2021.1972704.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For example, the initiative ‘HRO hilft’: https://hrohilft.de/.

2. For a statement (in German) from the city’s administration see: http://rathaus.rostock.de/sixcms/media.php/1068/faq_151012.pdf.

3. See (in German) http://rathaus.rostock.de/sixcms/detail.php?gsid=46629&_sid1=260&_sid2=267

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ellen Haustein

Ellen Haustein is a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Chair of Accounting, Auditing and Management Control at the University of Rostock, Germany. She obtained her doctoral degree in management accounting at the University of the West of England in Bristol. She coordinated the EU-funded project ‘Developing and implementing European Public Sector Accounting modules’ (DiEPSAm) and is coordinator of the EU-project ‘Empowering Participatory Budgeting in the Baltic Sea Region’ (EmPaci).

Peter C. Lorson

Peter C. Lorson is a Full Professor holding the Chair of Financial Accounting, Auditing and Management Control, Executive Director of the Center for Accounting and Auditing at the University of Rostock, Germany, and member of the ‘Integrated Reporting’ Working Group (Schmalenbach Association for Business Administration; Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft für Betriebswirtschaft e.V.). He was leader of the EU-funded project DiEPSAm and currently runs the EmPaci project. Currently, his preferred research fields are Financial Accounting, Management and Reporting Systems (external - internal, national - international, private - public sector, financial - sustainability), as well as their convergence.