Spain
Since 2016
Decidim is a digital platform created to strengthen the link between citizens and institutions, by offering them a common space.
To encourage citizen participation in deliberative processes.
To create a common space for sharing ideas and proposals
The platform is open to anyone living in Barcelona.
Description
Decidim [ https://decidim.org ] is a digital infrastructure for participatory democracy based on open source software (Ruby on Rails), which facilitates the creation of citizen participation portals.
Decidim.Barcelona, the first Decidim's platform implemented, was launched on 31 January 2016 as part of the citizen participation phase of Barcelona City Council's municipal action plan for 2016-2019.
This first website was based on a fork of the Cónsul code, developed by Madrid City Council, as part of the inter-municipal collaboration between the Ahora Madrid and Barcelona en Comú governments formed after the 2015 Spanish municipal elections and activist collectives linked to the 15-M Movement. In 2017, the Decidim code was rewritten from scratch and began to be deployed in other cities.
This digital infrastructure is coordinated by the Decidim Free Software Association, a democratic association for the governance of the Decidim community. The main objective of this association is to contribute to the democratisation of society by building technologies, methodologies, practices, actions and values in an open and collaborative way.
Decidim Barcelona is a platform for digital and democratic participation that aims to give citizens a voice in deciding their own future. It is a digital space for the participatory process to debate and gather proposals, but also to monitor and track the participation activities that take place face-to-face throughout the city. This tool has been developed with an evolutionary computer programme, so that it can evolve and be improved.
1. Participatory processes are a series of time-limited meetings designed to promote debate and contrast between citizens and local authority officials.
How can citizens take part in a participatory process?
Consult open participatory processes.
Take part in debates (make new proposals, comment on existing proposals, argue for or against them, support them or share them on social networks).
Follow the proposals (those initiated on the platform and those generated during face-to-face meetings, consult the entire progress of the debates, follow the comments and the final documents).
2. Most of the city's first participatory budget was also conducted via the Decidim.Barcelona platform. Beyond the face-to-face meetings to co-create projects, it was via the platform that proposals were shared, prioritised and finally voted on. To ensure a fair vote, participants had to share the necessary information to ensure that they were indeed registered residents of the city and that they were voting in their borough, as well as in another freely chosen borough.
3. The citizens' initiative is also being implemented to offer citizens a means of encouraging the municipal council to carry out an action of collective interest. Citizens can promote or support a current initiative by means of a digital signature. All they need is a decidim.barcelona user account.
A citizens' initiative can consist of proposing
Convening a neighbourhood council meeting
Placing items on the agenda of the plenary session of the City Council
Holding a public hearing
Convening a participatory process
Setting up a participatory body
Approving a general provision
Organising a public consultation
Citizens must clearly define their initiative, setting out their reasons for doing so. They must then indicate the type of signature (personal, digital or mixed) and the area (city, district, neighbourhood).
Once the initiative has been finalised, it is not automatically published, but must be technically validated, as stipulated in the rules.
4. Finally, it is through this platform that the participation bodies (permanent citizen participation councils) are monitored. These are the regular meetings and channels for dialogue between citizens and the City Council to debate and gather opinions and proposals in order to influence municipal policies.
Through decidim.barcelona, you can consult their meetings and even take part in those that are open (neighbourhood councils, for example).
Sources of information in Spanish:
Decidim Barcelona: https://www.decidim.barcelona/?locale=es
Decidim community: https://decidim.org/
Citizens' initiatives: https://www.decidim.barcelona/initiatives?locale=es
https://www.decidim.barcelona/pages/tipus-iniciatives-ciutadanes?locale=es
Source in English:
https://coditramuntana.com/en/projects/decidim-barcelona
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