Focusing a talk on renewing democracy in a time of distrust, Max Rashbrooke, a journalist, author and researcher, told about 30 people gathered in Dunedin this week to hear him speak that in New Zealand, and elsewhere, there was widespread dissatisfaction with how governments operated.
''But deep democracy - which finds ways for citizens to come together and intelligently discuss issues'' could help ''create governments fit for the 21st century''.
Representative democracy was not being abandoned, but the community and people with specialised knowledge were being brought together to improve local problem-solving and to include the poor more fairly.
An example he gave was of a community meeting in New Haven, Connecticut, in the United States, which was considering safety problems arising from a poorly lit bridge where pedestrians had been assaulted.
It was suggested the lighting be improved, but a specialist pointed out that the bridge's wiring posed technical challenges. Solar power was suggested, someone else said this would be highly costly, another person pointed out federal funding was available.
This ''high quality public discussion'' had sparked a good solution.
''That's when the crowd genuinely becomes smarter than the individual,'' he said.
