Oxford’s first Citizens’ Jury on people and nature

Melissa Felipe Cadillo

5th June 2025

7 minutes read

A first-of-its-kind ‘Citizens’ Jury’ brought together community members to discuss how people and nature can thrive together in Oxford. Guided by experts and facilitators, the jury co-created 8 key recommendations and a shared vision for Oxford city. We hope this experience can inspire others to explore deliberative democracy as a pathway to more inclusive and just environmental governance.

Written by Lila Stewart-Roberts and Melissa Felipe Cadillo

While Oxford is a city where nature and urban life are closely intertwined, this is a complex relationship marked by stark social inequalities, pressures from economic growth and housing demand, and increasing urgency to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises. In 2019, the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change called for a greener Oxford to enhance public health, foster stronger communities and strengthen the city’s resilience to climate change. As policies and strategies are developed to work towards these goals, capturing perspectives from across society – including residents’ voices – is critical.

What is a Citizens’ Jury and why do we need one?

A Citizens’ Jury is a deliberative process that brings together a small, diverse group of individuals to learn about a societal issue, engage in structured discussions, and collectively develop recommendations.

In short, citizens’ juries serve as a model to give community members the chance to have a say on what happens where they live.

Oxford’s Citizens’ Jury was motivated by increasing recognition that critical voices are often missing from decision-making on the future of nature recovery in the UK – those of community members. In 2021, the People’s Assembly for Nature, co-led by NbSI’s director Nathalie Seddon, created a conversation at the national level, bringing citizens together from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland to collectively plan how to tackle the nature crisis. The Oxford Citizens’ Jury aimed to do the same but at the local scale, allowing for a more targeted, place-based focus.

The Citizens’ Jury operated on the basis of deliberative democracy – a tool which is increasingly recognised for its potential in navigating complex societal issues through inclusive and reflective discussion. The jury was selected to represent a cross-section of Oxford’s population, with participants selected based on different demographics, including their level of engagement with nature.

8 key recommendations and a shared vision for nature in Oxford

Over four days of deliberative workshops, the jury co-created a shared and actionable vision for Oxford city:

“Oxford and its surroundings will be an accessible city for all, with protected green spaces, clean rivers, and rich biodiversity. These will be interconnected through green corridors that nurture the health of both people and nature. To achieve this, we propose enhancing biodiversity and protecting and improving our sustainable built and natural environment, while also reducing division and increasing inclusion among stakeholders. These efforts will be led by diverse and inclusive custodians and supported by strong policies.”

Grounded in this vision and insights from expert speakers, the jury co-created 8 recommendations on priority actions. For each recommendation, the jury identified key target stakeholders and first steps to make them actionable. Explore the full recommendations in the report.

Empowering community members to act on nature

The Jury showed the importance of community participation in urban environmental decision-making, beyond producing valuable recommendations, through the impact that the process had on participants themselves.

At the report launch event, several of the participants shared feelings of empowerment and agency from engaging with the Citizens’ Jury. As Alice Ogilvie reflected:

“I have lived in Oxford for 20 years, but this is the first time I felt like I had a voice, I had never even heard of a citizens’ jury before…”

Participants added that they enjoyed engaging through deliberative workshops, which created an environment for learning and discussion which felt open and unbiased. They particularly appreciated the support from expert speakers and facilitators, and jury members shared how it changed their perspective:

“I learned so much, I didn’t even think Oxford had nature” – Arwen Baxter

As well as the critical role that people have to play:

“I realised nature won’t recover without people”

These reflections indicate the potential of citizens’ juries and similar approaches to have a deeper impact on their participants, empowering community members to act as nature advocates.

As one jury member put it:

“We want to take action as community members… we want to be a part of it”

Participants also shared how encouraged they were by the diverse range of experiences brought together in the jury, and how, with facilitation, they were able to reach common ground and a shared vision.

In what ways can Citizens’ Juries contribute to a more inclusive governance?

Here Melissa Felipe Cadillo, the project lead, shares key learnings from running the Citizens’ Jury.

Oxford’s Citizens’ Jury demonstrates the potential of deliberative processes to strengthen participatory environmental planning, particularly in urban areas where space, priorities, and access to nature are often contested. Through this process, we learned that deliberative approaches could nurture bottom-up governance by fostering a sense of belonging, responsibility, and advocacy among residents at neighbourhood, community, and city levels.

As researchers, we also reflected on the role that institutions such as universities can play. Sitting at the intersection of formal knowledge and lived experience, universities are well-placed to help bridge the gap between communities, researchers, and decision-makers. In doing so, we can support more equitable and collaborative approaches to urban nature recovery.

Beyond shaping a collective vision for Oxford, the Citizens’ Jury process highlighted the power of bringing together diverse voices. Participants not only generated thoughtful recommendations, but they also developed new understandings of the city, its nature, and their place within it. For many, it was the first time they felt heard in local decision-making.

For others looking to run similar processes, we offer several reflections:

• Representation and recruitment: We prioritised participation from residents not already engaged in nature or conservation activities, to widen the conversation. While this helped surface new perspectives, some minority groups remained underrepresented. Recruitment strategies should be tailored to the context and aim of the process.
• Information design: Less can be more. Carefully curating information and allowing time for participants to process and reflect helps create an inclusive learning environment. Visual and interactive formats also enhanced engagement.
• Process over consensus: Disagreement is natural and valuable. What matters is creating space for respectful discussion and documenting how decisions were made, so outputs can be meaningfully shared with participants and stakeholders.
• Resourcing and trade-offs: With limited budgets, some compromises may be necessary. Prioritising skilled facilitation and inclusive recruitment is crucial to the process’s legitimacy and impact.

Ultimately, our experience showed that Citizens’ Juries are not just a means to produce recommendations. They are powerful tools for building capacity, amplifying marginalised voices, and creating shared ownership of urban futures. We hope this experience can inspire others to explore deliberative democracy as a pathway to more inclusive and just environmental governance.

Read the full report: Oxford Citizens’ Jury on People & Nature – Final Report

Oxford’s Citizens’ Jury on People and Nature was led by Melissa Felipe Cadillo and Guillemette Gandon from the Biodiversity & Society Programme and Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS), with facilitation support from Involve Foundation. The project was funded by the Agile Initiative and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, with additional support from the Nature-based Solutions Initiative (NbSI).