In the second half of 2000, fifteen European cities were visited by a group of researchers of the Centre for Local Democracy, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Their purpose was to find out, what kind of changes in the relationship between citizens and local government could be observed.
Recent developments in some countries suggest that the era of the citizen as a mere voter and as a customer of local services slowly has come to an end. Is the dominance of traditional models of representation and of New Public Management decreasing? Can this trend be observed in all Western European democracies?
Qeustions like these are reasons for conducting this exploratory research project. Citizen and City is the first result of the explorations.
