Copenhagen’s Bliv Hørt is the municipality’s digital portal for public consultations. It gives residents and other interested parties a single place to find active and completed consultations, read the material for each case and submit comments. The consultations can concern changes to municipal services, local areas and planning proposals.28
The portal was established in 2009 to make consultations easier to follow and give the public a clearer view of the democratic process.8 Its scope is citywide: although it has been used mainly by the Technical and Environmental Administration, the portal is available to all municipal administrations.8 People can also view other submitted responses, making public input and the municipality’s subsequent handling of a case more visible.8
Bliv Hørt is used for planning matters as well as other municipal issues. For proposed local plans, the municipality directs the public to the portal to submit responses; after the consultation closes, those responses are gathered for further political consideration.3 Consultations may also be accompanied by public meetings, where residents can hear about a proposal and ask questions.3
The portal’s role is not limited to residents of the affected neighbourhood: the Amager Vest Local Committee says people do not need to live in the relevant district or municipality to respond to a local-plan proposal.4 A municipal document reports that the Technical and Environmental Administration conducted 800 public consultations through the cross-municipal system between 2010 and 2023.11 The municipality has also described plans to replace the existing portal with a new system intended to improve the user experience and support consultation work across its administrations.11