Parma, 12 February 2026 – In recent decades, several European countries and cities have promoted new forms of participation and deliberation to foster – with the help of citizens – a dialogue with institutions on climate and environmental policies. Citizens’ assemblies, consultations, and participatory processes are just some of the experiments launched to involve the public and support more incisive and structured decisions to address the threat and challenge of climate change.
Despite mixed results, these processes have demonstrated the potential to broaden the scope of democracy and to imagine more forward‑looking pathways for ecological transition.
The two‑day webinar (12–13 February), organized by the University of Parma and titled “THE CLIMATE OF DEMOCRACY. Climate Assemblies, Participation, and New Tools of Democratic Governance”, will feature leading national and international experts on these topics, including academics, journalists, and activists.
The online training is aimed at administrators, activists, and scholars interested in understanding and envisioning how such projects can be implemented in their own territories.
The webinar, held on the Teams platform (https://bit.ly/3NAjRrb), includes three sessions:
The first session, on Thursday 12 February from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., focuses on “Climate Policies and Democratic Institutions”. It will be introduced and moderated by Osman Arrobbio, Sociologist and Lecturer in Environmental and Territorial Sociology at the University of Parma. Speakers include Prof. Graham Smith, political scientist at the University of Westminster and one of the world’s leading experts on the topic (speaking in English); journalist Marica Di Pierri, Deputy Director of EconomiaCircolare.com; Pasquale Pagano, activist and Extinction Rebellion expert; and Giorgia Pavani, legal scholar at the University of Bologna.
The second session, on Friday 13 February from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., will delve “Inside the Laboratory of Climate Assemblies”, describing how national and municipal assemblies function. It will be introduced and moderated by Prof. Marco Deriu, Sociologist and Lecturer in Environmental Communication at the University of Parma, and will feature Osman Arrobbio; Andrea Fabbri from the IU Rusconi Ghigi Foundation in Bologna; and Alessandro Cattini and Giuliana Gemini from the Poliedra Consortium at the Politecnico di Milano.
The third session, on Friday 13 February from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., titled “Changing the Climate of Democracy”, will be introduced and moderated by Emanuele Castelli, Political Scientist and Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Parma. Speakers include Giovanni Allegretti, Urban Planner at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra; Ângela Guimarães Pereira from the Competence Centre on Participatory and Deliberative Democracy – JRC; Azucena Morán from the Research Institute for Sustainability, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam; and Marco Deriu.
The webinar will be held in Italian (with the exception of Prof. Graham Smith’s talk in English). Participation is free upon registration and is open to scholars, administrators, associations, citizens, and activists interested in exploring the frontiers of ecological democracy and participation in climate policy.
To register, send an email with the subject line “Registration – The Climate of Democracy” to:
Osman Arrobbio – osman.arrobbio@unipr.it
Marco Deriu – marco.deriu@unipr.it
Emanuele Castelli – emanuele.castelli@unipr.it
Poster:
