Designing democratic innovations: a methodological framework for participation in urban planning and governance

Purpose Cities are strengthening their role as arenas for political action, crucial for addressing crises in a context of rampant uncertainty. This emphasises the need to centre public participation in decision-making to accelerate changes and ensure social responsiveness. However, a gap persists between rhetoric and implementation of participation mechanisms, highlighting the importance of democratic innovations (DIs) in fostering inclusive governance, especially in urban planning. This paper introduces the democracy radar framework (DRF), a tool to guide and evaluate DIs in urban planning and governance. It supports institutional design by guiding decisions around participation, comparing approaches across urban environments and facilitating knowledge exchange between cities. Design/methodology/approach The DRF was developed through a critical literature review. It establishes four participation objectives: (1) transferring decision-making power to those affected, (2) distributing socio-spatial justice, (3) strengthening trust and community ties and (4) promoting inclusion. These are combined with three structural dimensions: What to participate in? How? Who participates? It includes 12 analytical criteria organised according to these objectives and was applied in a qualitative comparative analysis of DIs in Lisbon. Findings The case study findings highlight the potential of well-designed DIs to bridge civil society and government, fostering collaboration between social and political movements to transform institutional structures. This alignment between urban planning, local governance and participatory objectives supports the emergence of new forms of direct democracy. Originality/value This research contributes to a novel framework for guiding, evaluating and comparing DIs, supporting learning and knowledge transfer across initiatives, contexts and cities. As an open framework, it invites contributions and further adaptation, enabling advancements in comparative research.