 Welcome. Now we'll focus on the influence of citizens in co-creating policies and politics for sustainable cities. First, we'll look at direct participation. Next, I discuss the participation letter to assess citizens' influence in co-creation. Finally, I will give three examples of direct participation. When you think of citizens in city politics, you may think of voting in elections and referenda, or maybe about protest and large-skilled demonstrations. But citizens are engaged in many more ways. For example, they tweet to oppose to a new policy, they deliberate about the future of the city, or they start a community garden. Besides formal and organized political participation, citizens influence and co-create sustainability politics in many ways. Direct participation is of special relevance. This form of co-creation refers to the active and direct involvement of citizens in decision making. By actively including citizens and their voices, knowledge and ideas, city politics may become more effective and efficient, better informed and more democratic. These forms of direct citizen participation are often government-led, but companies and NGOs can also adopt the role of organizing or supporting direct citizen participation. In 1969, Arnstein famously developed a letter of citizen participation. She visualized how much influence citizens could have on politics and policies. At the top of the letter, citizens have real influence. They are in control, partner up with other stakeholders, or have delegated power. This is when co-creation takes place. When we move down the ladder, we go from tokenism or lip service to non-participation. Note that according to Arnstein, consultation and informing are forms of non-participation. In some cities across the world, however, these steps would be considered important to increase the influence of citizens. Let's have a look at some examples. The first example is a public hearing that can be organized by local town councils to inform citizens about a decision and to let them bring in critique and experiences before a policy is issued. In the photo, you see a public hearing in Seattle about the city budget. The second example is a form of more influential participation. This is the example of participatory budgeting. It has gotten famous through experiences in the city of Porto Alegro and Belo Horizonte in Brazil. And it's now applied all over the world. For example, in New York City, local people decide on where some of the government money is spent. The last example is deliberative polling, which is developed by James Fishkin, Professor at Stanford University. Deliberative polling consists of three steps. A baseline opinion poll among randomly selected participants. A week of discussion and deliberation among a selection of citizens and experts. And then a final poll with similar questions as the first one. Deliberative polling often results in significant changes in public opinion and in city politics. An example is deliberative polling in the Tamale metropolitan area in Ghana, West Africa. Through the deliberative polling process, citizens became more informed about food and water security. They also prioritized, for example, a rainwater harvesting system in schools as an intervention. These examples demonstrate that direct participation in city politics is an important and widespread form of co-creation. The promises of direct participation are many, more engaged citizens, empowered citizens, and better informed citizens. Better informed policies have more effective policies and ultimately more legitimate and democratic city politics. While recognizing the potential benefits of different forms of co-creating city politics, I conclude with a warning. If citizen participation is not taken seriously by governments and other stakeholders, citizens might lose trust in their city government. When co-creation fails, this affects democratic legitimacy and may harm future decision making.