Reflections on deliberative walks: A participatory method and learning process

The background of this paper is a combined interest in deliberative democratic innovations, place-based learning and learning processes. According to Szczepanski (2013), where education takes place is a vital pedagogical and didactic question, which emphasizes the meaning of place in the learning process. Deliberative Walks are introduced as a vehicle for learning in a more complete manner. Deliberative Walks combine elements of the methods Development Walk and Citizens’ Jury, in order to strengthen and widen the learning process and knowledge base of the participants as well as to inspire more active participation.

The working definition of Deliberative Walks is: “A participatory process in which the participants, by deliberating in small groups and joining facilitated walks, tackle a complex policy issue that has highly intertwined social and physical dimensions” (Raisio & Ehrström, forthcoming).