Urban Planning and Citizen Participation : Lessons from Tunisia’s Municipal Reforms

This paper analyzes the evolution of citizenparticipation in urban planning in Tunisia following the 2011revolution, with a focus on participatory budgeting (PB) as atransformative governance tool. Drawing on municipal casestudies—including Carthage’s Annual Investment Plan—thestudy explores how PB fosters inclusive decision-making,enhances municipal autonomy, and institutionalizes bottomup planning practices. Tunisia’s hybrid model, inspired byGerman participatory frameworks, illustrates the interplay between grassroots mobilization and state-led democratization.The paper identifies key challenges to scaling participatorymethodologies, including uneven implementation, limited citizen awareness, and institutional inertia. It concludes by proposing strategic pathways for embedding participatory urbanismin Tunisia’s planning infrastructure and offers comparativeinsights for Global South cities pursuing democratic urbanreform