Social Distancing and Participation: The Case of Participatory Budgeting in Budapest, Hungary

Pandemic and social distancing are not conducive to the implementation of participatory processes based on deliberation. In our research, the resilience of a newly established participatory institution was examined during the pandemic. The first announcement of participatory budgeting (PB) introduced in Budapest (Hungary) coincided with the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter explores the participatory decision-making aspects of innovation in Budapest between 2020 and 2021. The main questions are the following: (1) How do different decision-makers in Hungary react to the crisis? and (2) How did the pandemic affect the different PB solutions in Budapest? The results show that resilience and fair deliberation generally do not help each other and that relevant trade-offs occur in the time of pandemic and social distancing. Hungarian experiences of participation during the pandemic reflect the resilience of the process of PB in Budapest and show that a continuous redesign of engagement strategies and the real commitment of the decision-makers was essential. The chapter draws on the change of such a commitment in participatory design to discuss a possible “new normal” in the required efforts in participation in a pandemic and post-pandemic world.