The “citizens’ jury” as tool to help administration in decision-making process, is not an absolute novelty, however in Italy it had not been tested up to now. You will find here a short description of the citizens’ jury held in Turin on the 18th and 25th March 2006.The Jury was promoted by a research group from the Political Studies Department of the University of Turin within the framework of a joined research project with the Universities of Bologna and Trieste, financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research.

The plan of the research

Constitution of the advisory committee; defined the theme to be discussed, agreed on a list of experts and witnesses, and approved the briefing report that was sent to the jurors before the meeting. Preparation of two questionnaires, to be submitted to the jurors “before” and “after” the Jury meeting. Selection of 24 citizens on the basis of a stratified sample of Turin metropolitan area Communication to the press Jury: First day: March 18, 2006. Jury: Second day: March 25, 2006. Final recommendation. During the first day the experts and the witnesses introduced themselves to the jury and, through a short presentation, gave their opinion on the possible future scenarios. The jurors also had the possibility to make questions to the experts/witnesses. Besides, during two moments, the jurors, supported by the facilitator, compared and expressed their opinions on the scenarios. During the second day, the jurors spent the morning in listening to new witnesses, then in the afternoon they tried to find out a common solution to the pollution’s problem, by deliberating about the different scenarios that had been proposed to them. At the end of the afternoon the Jury issued its Final recommendation. Some articles of the press on the event: "LA REPUBBLICA" 23rd February 2006 "LA STAMPA" 16th March 2006 "LA STAMPA" 26th March 2006 Some moments of the event (downloadable video clips): the beginning the experts the witnesses the deliberation and the final recommendations

The Research Group
Luigi Bobbio, Political Studies Department
Silvano Belligni, Political Studies Department
Alberto Chiari, Political Studies Department
Noemi Podestà, Political Studies Department
Stefania Ravazzi, Political Studies Department
Iolanda Romano, Avventura Urbana, facilitator



The research team can be contacted at: alberto.chiari@unito.it

citizens’ jury | the research group | advisory committee | list of experts and witnesses
briefing report | the sample | jury first day | jury second day
Final recommendation | press articles | video clips