Continuing a 2021 trend of innovations in democratic participation, Delib announces the release of Citizen Space 7, a significant update to its flagship engagement platform.

Citizen Space 7 brings an updated look and feel to the admin side of the platform, as well as a change to the use of the word ‘consultation’.

Andy Parkhouse, Managing Director, said: “The tens of thousands of democratic activities running on our platforms have given us a unique insight into how democracy happens. Democracy is not just voting, referenda and high-profile consultations; it’s the small, intricate processes that happen every single day. From taxi licensing to moving a post office from one location to another, democracy happens in the details.”

Title card for a 'Citizen Space Version 7' tour video. Video length is 01:41. Picture link leads to the video itself.
Watch our introductory video or read on for more details of what’s new.

Innovations in engagement

The update includes the replacement of the word ‘consultation’ with ‘activity’ across both the back end and the front end of customer sites.

This change reflects the huge range of democratic processes that are run on Citizen Space, not all of which can accurately be described by the word consultation.

Citizen space is used around the world for key democratic processes, including but not limited to:

  • Statutory policy consultation: from small borough councils to national governments, organisations around the world use Citizen Space to consult on topics such as policy and legislation, spatial planning, and more.
  • Calls for evidence & Royal Commissions: evidence-based decision-making is an important element of a democratic system, and calls for evidence form a vital step in the making and changing of policy or legislation.

  • Community engagement: from proposing cycle lanes to shaping 30 year strategic plans, hundreds of customers around the world use Citizen Space to engage communities about issues as varied as the communities themselves.
  • Permitting and licensing: granting or denying licenses has real impact on citizens’ lives. While it’s not always glamorous, permitting and licensing is an essential democratic function and it’s important for residents and stakeholders to have their say.

Sleeker look and feel

Citizen Space’s admin user interface now looks a little different. The smart new look includes wider layouts and updated icons. As part of these changes we’ve:

  • created a handy new site settings menu which is much tidier while still being easy to navigate
  • added a menu where you can manage your user profile and log out of the site
  • put the link to preview mode and the total number of responses received so far at the top of each dashboard so they’re easy to find at a glance

This upgrade lays the groundwork for future innovation whilst ensuring Citizen Space remains as easy to use as possible for both respondents and admin users.


If you’d like to learn more about what Citizen Space can do for your organisation, book a free demo and we’ll walk you through it.