Polisning

Polisning is a term used chiefly in urban studies and political theory to describe a set of practices aimed at turning a city into a contemporary polis—a polity characterized by active citizenship, deliberative decision making, and shared public life. The word blends polis, the Greek concept of the city-state, with the English suffix -ing to denote process. It is a relatively recent neologism and lacks a single, universally accepted definition.

In practice, polisning encompasses initiatives that center residents in policy design and governance. Methods commonly associated with polisning include participatory budgeting, citizen assemblies, co-creation workshops for urban design, open-data governance, and collaborative platforms for policy experimentation. The approach seeks transparent institutions, accessible information, and durable public spaces that encourage everyday civic engagement.

Scholars and practitioners emphasize its aims: to strengthen social trust, improve policy legitimacy, and build resilience against shocks by distributing political influence more broadly. However, polisning faces challenges such as representational gaps, resource demands, potential tokenism, and the difficulty of scaling deliberative processes to larger cities. Critics caution that without guardrails, it can become performative rather than substantive.

Related concepts include deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, civic tech, and urban commons. Because the term is used in varying ways, definitions continue to evolve as practitioners apply it to different urban contexts.