About the Project

These design pattern cards have been created as part of a design research project on Climate Citizen Assemblies (CCA) funded by the Free University of Bozen‑Bolzano (Italy). They provide guidance on revealing and reflecting on ecosocial concerns across the design, organisation, implementation, and assessment of climate assemblies. Our aim with these cards is not only to support decision‑making and policy input, but to amplify the transformational potential of assemblies, meaning the ways they can nurture relational, cultural, and systemic change and action within people, institutions, and societies.

What these cards are

• Brief and actionable design patterns: each card highlights an aspect of assemblies to be considered, related questions, a description, and related examples. In this way, the patterns are intended to support initiators, organisers and facilitators to include ecosocial and transformative perspectives in climate assemblies.
• Informed by empirical and existing work: the cards draw on empirical research with climate assemblies (observations, questionnaires, in-depth interviews), theoretical literature and desk research (including guides and documents from groups working on participatory democracies), as well as rich conversations among researchers, facilitators, organisers, and participants.
• Open to change: these patterns are neither exhaustive nor prescriptive. They are intended as a living design artefact to be revised and situated to specific contexts and constraints.

How the pattern cards can be used

• Scan for inspiration: use single cards to generate ideas, reflect on decisions, or to address specific challenges.
• Combine and iterate: patterns can be sequenced, adapted, or experimented with across different stages of an assembly.
• Reflect and evaluate: consider how each pattern shapes relationships, inclusion, learning, and impact beyond the assembly.

Acknowledgements

These cards would not have been possible without the knowledge, skills, care, and time contributed by many people. We are grateful to all the participants, facilitators, organisers and practitioners of the Participation Processes for the Climate Plan 2040 in South Tyrol, the Citizens’ Assembly for Climate of Catalonia, the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) and EURAC, and many more, who shared their experiences, knowledges and insights. We welcome feedback, adaptations and further collaborations to keep this resource practical, relevant and grounded in real-world practice.

Team

• Kris Krois
• Maria Menendez-Blanco
• Alessandro Narduzzo
• Urban Nothdurfter
• Anja Salzer
• Teresa Palmieri

Design: Ada Keller, Chiara Cesaretti