Residents’ voices on proposals: Analysing a participatory budgeting project in Seoul using topic modelling

In participatory budgeting, citizens submit budget proposals for funding to improve their neighbourhoods. These proposals are publicly accessible and are a crucial source for identifying local problems and preferences. However, they are challenging to comprehend due to the extensive amounts of data involved. This article fills this gap by applying the structural topic model as an automated content analysis method for identifying the major topics and trends in the case of participatory budgeting in Seoul, South Korea. In total, 26,131 proposals submitted from 2013 to 2022 were analysed. The result shows that citizens were concerned about 12 topics under three themes: facility maintenance, community rebuilding, and risk prevention. While community rebuilding topics are decreasing, residents have paid increasing attention to public facilities, traffic, and pollution problems, reflecting topical changes over time. This study contributes by demonstrating the applications of an automated content analysis of extensive citizens’ inputs in democratic processes.