The Role of Cultural Semi-Public Spaces and Urban Drama Labs: Reimagining Citizen Participation for Just Transitions

Democratic innovations within urban governance aim to foster more just and sustainable transitions, but often remain exclusive and tokenistic, failing to deliver meaningful citizen involvement (Jacquet et al., 2023). Their consensus-oriented and efficiency-driven nature also limits the fundamental challenging of underlying policies by citizens (Pløger, 2014), alienating certain groups with dissenting views. To address these shortcomings, this article explores the potential of cultural semi-public spaces as sites for fostering more inclusive, just and participatory transitions. Cultural semi-public spaces create a third sphere between the private and public where tensions and dissent can be engaged with constructively (Gielen, 2023). In this article, we examine the setting-up of an Urban Drama Lab conducted in the Belgian city of Genk as part of an urban planning process, in which we fostered and engaged with such sites. An Urban Drama Lab is a novel participatory approach (Sachs Olsen & van Hulst, 2024), rooted in agonistic democratic theory (Mouffe, 2008), which puts conflict and emotions central, rather than seeking consensus, through theatre-based methods. We analyze how cultural semi-public spaces facilitated this and what the impact was on participants. Finally, we also reflect on the potentials and challenges of these spaces as democratic innovations needed for sustainable and just transitions and what this project taught us about collaborations between researchers, artists and a local municipality.