Wellington City Council has just completed its first citizens' assembly, only the second ever to be run in New Zealand but a democratic innovation increasingly popular worldwide. Citizens' assemblies bring together representative groups of ordinary people to advise public bodies and, in some cases, take decisions on key issues where politicians have been unable to make progress or need to understand what trade-offs the public wants made. Such innovations have the potential to restore trust, solve major public problems, and generally bring democracy into the twenty first century.  This lecture by Max Rashbrooke will discuss the potential – and possible pitfalls – of Wellington's latest democratic experiment. 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington. Free, all welcome.