This conference will have a strong focus on participatory budgeting and other emergent practices of participatory democracy:

Learning Democracy by Doing:
Alternative Practices in Citizenship Learning and Participatory Democracy

An international conference organized by the Transformative Learning Centre (TLC)
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT)

October 16-18, 2008
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
252 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Canada

This conference, which celebrates the 15th anniversary of the Transformative Learning Centre at OISE/UT, will provide a space for mutual learning and critical reflection about innovative and inspiring international initiatives. The conference will take place in Toronto, one of the most diverse cities in the world, and it will build on Canadian experiences in social action learning and participatory democracy, including indigenous models of democratic self-governance, the Antigonish Movement of Nova Scotia, the Citizens Forum, the Citizens Assemblies in British Columbia and Ontario, the Practicing Democracy initiative in Vancouver, and the emerging participatory budgeting initiatives in municipalities, public housing units and schools.

See http://tlc.oise.utoronto.ca/tlc2008/info.html for more information and the call for proposals.