‘This is something that could work’: can civic assemblies put the people back into politics?

US cities are turning to randomly selected residents to help resolve divisive policy debates

A Los Angeles software engineer, Hunter Futo, recalled being disaffected and apolitical" for years but experienced an about-face recently: now, she's leading resident debates, helping guide local governance reforms and even pushing for more options for Angelenos to help create policy.

For Futo, the turnaround happened in January, when she and a few other LA residents were randomly selected to lay out a vision of local values for the first-ever preamble for the city charter.