CityForum is a project about places where democracy, society and technology overlap. It’s trying to answer questions like: How can we bring more people into the civic and political life of the city? How can we find out what people in the city really think? How can we use open data in ways that support debate?

CityForum is a civic participation event where you can share and discuss the big issues you think the city’s politicians should be talking about. It’s based on the principles of openness, innovation and social purpose that were at the heart of CityCamp in March. It’s run by Demsoc, a local non-partisan organisation that works for better democracy.

During September we will be hosting discussions online – here on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook – to find out what issues people in the city want to talk about. We’ll be picking up the most popular discussions, and adding to them with information and expert views to create a better debate.

On October 5^th, the discussion will move off the net and into the Sallis Benney Theatre on Grand Parade, where thanks to the generous support of the University of Brighton, we’ll be hosting an afternoon-into-evening discussion event, ending with a presentation of the outcome of discussion to a panel of senior city figures.

Everyone is welcome. We’ve reserved a quarter of tickets for community and voluntary groups to make sure the widest range of voices is heard, but other tickets will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, and tickets are available now.

How will the 5 October event work?

We start at 2 o’clock by setting the agenda, together. We’ll be taking issues that people have volunteered to champion, and timetable discussion sessions for them in several breakout areas. Participants can go to whichever sessions they want, no need to pre-book.

Over the course of the afternoon, alongside the discussions, we’ve contributions from the City Council and an exciting announcement about a participation initiative that will be of particular interest to developers and CityCampers.

At the end of the event, the discussions will be presented to a panel of senior city figures – with the emphasis on coming up with proposals and new solutions for the city. And once we’ve had a drink at the end of the evening, we’ll be putting the results of the event on the web and asking for the comments of online participants.

This is just one of the projects that Demsoc Brighton & Hove has in the pipeline. We’re trying out different ways to make democracy in the city work better for more people. We hope you’ll take part.