Children voted actively in Lahti’s participatory budgeting

This year, the city of Lahti implemented participatory budgeting city-wide for the fourth time. Residents proposed over 900 ideas, of which 162 went ahead to the voting stage. During the ideation phase, the city of Lahti encouraged residents to send ideas promoting sustainability, community, and the well-being of children and young people.

Ideas were voted on the OmaLahti website. Voting on paper forms was possible in libraries and at Palvelutori Service Centre. Due to security reasons, children under 13 also voted using paper forms. A total of 1062 residents voted using paper forms.

– Voting on the new OmaLahti website required logging in, and the site is not yet familiar to everyone. Therefore, we were not surprised that the number of online voters decreased from the previous participatory budgeting round. However, we are pleased that the number of children who voted increased by almost 20 percent, and the OmaLahti website has already had over 30,000 visitors this spring, says participation coordinator Tia Mäkinen.

The Board of Vitality and Well-being will confirm the voting results at its August meeting, after which the results of the voting will be announced. In 2026, the city will implement the ideas that have received the most votes. A budget of 200,000 euros has been allocated for the implementation of the ideas. The budget is divided into five equal parts: for the northern, southern, eastern, and central areas, as well as projects concerning the entire city.