Stuttgart 21 has sharpened the awareness of the problems facing our democracy. The search for solutions is persistently guided by the motto "More citizen participation!". However, this does not lead to a straightforward path, as the motto points in different directions. Utopias here clash with approaches that fall short, as well as with strategies aimed at placating concerns. Klages and Vetter strive for clarification amidst this confusion. Based on a current situational analysis, which focuses on evaluating experiences with citizen participation approaches at the municipal level, they develop - drawing on a successful and now well-known design approach in which they were significantly involved - a realistic position for local citizen participation, which they further elaborate into concrete guidelines for developing frameworks for participation.