Build Detroit's Budget
Detroit has a $500 million discretionary budget to allocate across six departments — schools, roads, public safety, parks, housing, and transit. Every interest group believes their need is most urgent, and every dollar you give one department is a dollar taken from another. This participatory budgeting simulation shows how collective decisions are shaped by power, urgency, and the framing of trade-offs.
The Situation
"The mayor just handed you the keys to Detroit's discretionary budget — $500 million. Six department heads are waiting outside your door, each with a compelling case. You can't give everyone what they want. Who gets funded?"
🎯 Place Your Bets
Before you see the budget breakdown, predict — which department do you think most residents would prioritize? Schools, roads, public safety, parks, housing, or transit?
🎯 Your Prediction
Locked in
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Background
Participatory budgeting is a process where citizens directly decide how to allocate public funds. It was pioneered in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1989 and has since been adopted by hundreds of cities worldwide. The challenge is that public goods are rival in funding but non-rival in consumption — improving one area often comes at the cost of another, and different communities feel the trade-offs very differently depending on where they live and what they need.
🔒 Lock in your prediction above to reveal the game
Your Result
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💡 What This Reveals
The way budget choices are framed dramatically affects outcomes. When asked to 'cut' versus 'reallocate' versus 'invest,' residents make systematically different choices — even with identical numbers. Power and proximity to city hall also shape who shows up to participatory processes, which means equal process doesn't always mean equitable outcomes.
Reflect
"If you lived in a low-income neighborhood versus a high-income neighborhood in Detroit, how might your priorities differ? What process would make you feel like your voice actually counted?"