A consultation is a sequence of participatory activities (e.g. filling in a survey, then making proposals, discussing them face-to-face or online, and finally prioritizing them) with the aim of defining and making a decision on a specific subject.

Examples of participative processes: choosing a platform (gathering needs, identifying the most shared needs, defining selection criteria, ...), choosing actions to be taken (where proposals are made, economically evaluated and voted on according to available capacity), a strategic planning process, the collaborative drafting of a regulation or standard, the design of an urban space or the production of a public policy plan.