Background
Paris has layered participation onto its municipal government for more than a decade: a participatory budget since 2014, neighbourhood councils and public consultations. The Citizens' Assembly grew out of a 2019 public conference on democratic participation that gathered more than 9,000 contributions. Its novelty was to give a lot-selected body a permanent place in the city's formal decision-making, rather than convening ad hoc juries on a question chosen by the mayor.
The Council of Paris, the city's elected assembly, created the Citizens' Assembly by deliberation in October 2021, during Mayor Anne Hidalgo's second term. It works in successive cohorts ("promotions"): the first ran from November 2021 to March 2023, the second from July 2023 to July 2024, and the third began in September 2024.
How it is governed
- Selection. For the first cohort the city drew 10,000 adults at random from the 1,350,000 people registered to vote in Paris in 2021 and invited them to volunteer; a second random draw among those who replied produced the 100 members. Drawing from the electoral register excludes residents who are not registered to vote, including most foreign nationals.
- Powers. During its mandate the assembly can put a question on current affairs to the Council of Paris, table several vœux (motions) for the Council to vote on, and propose one délibération — a formal draft resolution — presented through the deputy mayor responsible for citizen participation. It also evaluates municipal policies and hears elected officials, city staff and outside experts.
- Agenda. Members choose their own priority subjects, rather than receiving a remit from the executive. In the first cohort, three exploratory workshops (social policy and education, environment, public space) were followed by three mandates approved unanimously in June 2022.
- Rhythm. Plenary sessions every three to four months set priorities and validate proposals; thematic workshops meet monthly. A typical member is involved once or twice a month. The city's general secretariat provides support.
- Follow-up ("droit de suite"). The city commits to tracking implementation of adopted recommendations, publishing an annual follow-up document and holding public follow-up meetings with current and former members, elected officials and staff.
Economy and public goods
The assembly is funded from the city's operating budget; the sources reviewed for this entry do not give its cost or the compensation offered to members. Its outputs bear on public goods such as reading services, housing energy efficiency, street space, help for people experiencing homelessness and the fight against loneliness.
Conflict and disputes
- Representativeness. Selection from the electoral roll, and voluntary acceptance after the first draw, mean the assembly mirrors registered voters willing to serve rather than all residents.
- Advisory power in a strong-mayor system. The assembly's texts need the Council's vote, and the majority that created it controls the Council. A body whose proposals are always adopted can be read either as influential or as choosing topics the majority already favours; the sources do not allow this to be settled.
- Co-construction with city services. In the first cohort recommendations were refined in workshops with municipal departments before being tabled. This improves feasibility, but blurs the line between citizens' proposals and administrative ones.
Outcomes
- First cohort (2021–2023). Recommendations were presented to the executive in December 2022, refined with city services and turned into three motions, adopted unanimously by the workshop members in January 2023 and debated at a final plenary on 11 March 2023. In March 2023 the Council of Paris adopted all three: an updated Paris reading plan, simpler access to aid for home energy renovation, and the creation of a Paris street code. A first public follow-up review, on 4 April 2024, covered 38 recommendations.
- Second cohort (2023–2024). The Council adopted in July 2024 a citizens' délibération on people experiencing homelessness, with an action plan and an advocacy text addressed to the state, and a motion on "garden streets".
- Third cohort (2024–2025). In July 2025 the Council adopted a délibération on new powers for citizens to decide, with a national advocacy annex, and a motion on combating loneliness.
The city reports that four motions and one deliberation had been adopted when it last summarised the assembly's record, and a second follow-up meeting on the first two cohorts took place on 8 July 2025.
Lessons for institution design
- Standing bodies can set their own agendas. Letting members choose topics avoids the charge that the executive picks safe questions — but only if the selection is visible.
- Formal tabling rights matter. The right to table motions and a draft resolution gives the assembly an entry point into the legal decision process, even without binding power.
- Follow-up is a design element, not an afterthought. The annual "droit de suite" makes implementation visible and gives former members a role.
- Check the sampling frame. Drawing from electoral rolls quietly excludes non-citizen residents in a city where many live.
Further reading
Claims
■EstablishedCLM-0473 · checked 2026-10-27
The Council of Paris created the Citizens' Assembly in October 2021. For the first cohort, 10,000 adults were drawn at random from the 1,350,000 people on Paris's 2021 electoral register, and a second draw among volunteers produced 100 members.[1][2]
■EstablishedCLM-0474 · checked 2026-10-27
In March 2023 the Council of Paris adopted all three motions of the first cohort — on the Paris reading plan, access to home energy-renovation aid and a Paris street code — and in July 2024 a citizens' deliberation on people experiencing homelessness.[1][2]
■EstablishedCLM-0475 · checked 2026-10-27
The city commits to a 'droit de suite': an annual follow-up document on adopted recommendations, discussed at public meetings with members, elected officials and staff; the first review, on 4 April 2024, covered 38 recommendations.[1][2]