The Democratic Odyssey is a collective European project initiated by the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute and Professor Kalypso Nicolaïdis. Its goal: through an itinerant citizens’ assembly, imagine solutions to help the European Union better overcome both current and future crises. After a first stop in Athens in September 2024, the assembly set sail for Florence in February 2025. Here’s an overview of a process that integrates art to amplify the power of participation.
What sets the Odyssey apart from many other deliberative initiatives is its itinerant nature. It travels from city to city, immersing itself in the local civic scene while connecting local voices to a broader, Europe-wide discussion. At each stop, new members join: new local participants, chosen by lottery, mix their perspectives with those of some fifty European citizens, civil society representatives, and, crucially, “ambassadors”: participants from previous sessions who carry the memory of earlier discussions. Each assembly builds on the conclusions of the previous one, forming a cumulative learning and decision-making process.
At the core of the Odyssey lies a collective effort to define its agenda. This crucial phase mobilized a broad “constituent network” of around 600 volunteers (researchers, activists, civil society organizations, public institution representatives, etc.). Over about ten months, these actors took part in brainstorming sessions and online consultations to propose assembly topics. Three criteria shaped the choice of a single theme: it had to appeal to the general public (so as to reach a wide range of citizens), hold political and social significance (to truly influence public policies), and include a forward-looking dimension (to address future challenges). The result: “What needs to change for the EU to withstand the storms ahead (whether climatic, political, economic, or social)?”
This “trans-local” dimension, like the itinerancy, is a defining feature of the Odyssey. The aim is to ground the initiative in the civic culture and everyday realities of each host city while maintaining continuity at the European level. This “dual scale” simultaneously highlights local specificities (meetings with associations, public events, etc.) and addresses issues common to the entire EU. By traveling through Europe’s cities, the process seeks exposure to diverse experiences in order to develop solutions that are both locally relevant and applicable across the continent. It’s an ambitious approach to one of the challenges facing citizens’ assemblies: understanding and deliberating on political issues that are increasingly complex and interconnected, in a multi-level world of governance.
The Odyssey goes beyond formal presentations and small-group debates. From the start, it has incorporated art-based and creative methods: theater workshops, living tableaux, improvisations, citizens’ choirs, and so on. The aims are twofold: first, to create a common language that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers; and second, to encourage more meaningful engagement, by involving the body, imagination, and emotion.
In Athens, participants engaged in such activities as “playback” theater (a form of guided improvisational theater), role-playing exercises, and group drawing. In Florence, artistic techniques also included theatrical performances, living tableaux, drawing, and singing. In one tableau, five or six participants positioned themselves to represent the forces of social media misinformation overwhelming an isolated citizen; in another, they formed a human sculpture of a bridge, symbolizing a community reaching across a divide.
These methods aren’t just there for entertainment: they have a genuine impact on discussion. By harnessing the body and imagination, the assembly taps into deeper levels of participation and understanding. Since time is a limited resource in citizens’ assemblies, the challenge lies in striking the right balance and the right timing for using these methods. It’s about stimulating empathy and active listening while maintaining the analytical rigor necessary to generate concrete proposals.
Each Odyssey session continues beyond the assembly itself with a “Civic Action Festival” open to the local public. The idea is to make the deliberations permeable to civil society and give participants a chance to hear other civic voices. In Florence, this event took place at the Le Murate complex, a former convent turned cultural space. It brought together associations, students, artists, and curious onlookers for debates, concerts, screenings, and interactive activities.
Such festivals open the assembly to the city, encourage buy-in, and also raise questions about the role of civil society organizations (CSOs). Their involvement can be an asset (providing expertise, credibility, and community connections) but can also pose questions of balance and neutrality. The Odyssey innovates by going so far as to include, via lottery, members of civil society organizations within the assembly itself, an experiment closely tracked by its evaluation team.
The proposals developed in Florence—particularly the idea of relying on citizens’ assemblies in crisis management—will be refined at the next stop in Vienna, in May 2025. Named the 2025 European Capital of Democracy, the Austrian capital will host the Odyssey community for the third and final time, aiming to finalize and present tangible proposals for strengthening the EU’s resilience.
Beyond that, the ambition is to sustain the spirit of the Odyssey by encouraging other trans-local and deliberative democratic processes. Today’s participants hope to pass on to future randomly selected citizens a framework and a method that will enable them, in turn, to shape a program for tackling tomorrow’s challenges. As the Odyssey steers toward Vienna, it carries with it the spirit of collective commitment, creativity, and the common desire to build a more participatory European future.
More information: Scaledem, Scaling Democratic Innovations
