Tim Daw and an interdisciplinary team of researchers are asking what role citizens’ assemblies and other deliberative minipublics might play in sustainability transformations.

Their open-access article explores how bringing diverse groups of citizens together for informed and facilitated deliberation could support learning, public participation, political legitimacy, and more ambitious responses to complex sustainability challenges.

The authors also consider the limitations of these processes, including questions of power, representation, inclusion, and how minipublics connect with wider political and governance systems. They call for further experimentation and critical research to understand when these approaches can genuinely contribute to transformation.