Visualisation for citizen participation: Data practices in the Copenhagen Climate Citizens' Assembly

Authors

• Daniele Dell'Orto, Aalborg University, DenmarkFollow
• Amalia de Götzen, Aalborg University, DenmarkFollow
• Mathieu Jacomy, Aalborg University, DenmarkFollow

Abstract

The recent popularisation of data and their visualisation has offered new opportunities for spaces of citizen participation around contested issues, such as climate assemblies. The potential of data visualisation in opening and supporting discussions has been widely recognised, but so has the risk it carries of naturalising certain perspectives and delegitimising others. Still, the roles played by data visualisation in the specific context of climate assemblies remain unaddressed. This paper investigates those roles through field observation and desk research around a case study, the Københavnernes Klimaborgerting. The study explores which data were visualised, how, by who and why. What emerges is that data visualisations were mostly used as top-down tools to frame the process rather than objects mobilised for discussion. The findings highlight the need for more participatory approaches in the data work done in climate assemblies, in line with the democratic principles of participation underlying those processes.

Keywords

data visualisation, citizen participation, climate assemblies, pluralism

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1296

Citation

Dell'Orto, D., de Götzen, A., and Jacomy, M. (2026) Visualisation for citizen participation: Data practices in the Copenhagen Climate Citizens' Assembly, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1296

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License