CITIES & CITIZENS – How to achieve technological sovereignty. The participatory democracy platform by the City of Barcelona.
Technological sovereignty means taking back democratic control over technology, putting citizens at the center and using technologies and data to solve a city’s real problems
What is it?
Decidim is a platform for participatory democracy that informs citizens about the activities of the municipality and allows them to play an active role in policies. With Decidim, the people of Barcelona can express opinions, receive support to create associations, participate in administrative sessions, propose ideas to transform into political actions and follow the development of projects.
What does it do?
It is one of the tools that the Municipality of Barcelona has implemented to ensure the technological sovereignty of its citizens. It is one of the main projects of the Barcelona Digital City Plan, developed by Francesca Bria, Chief Technology and Digital Innovation Officer of the City of Barcelona, defining ethical standards for the development of the Smart City.
What is its impact?
70% of the City of Barcelona activities come from Decidim, over 400,000 people took action through a hybrid process of online and offline democracy in the territories.
What is technology sovereignty?
Technological sovereignty means taking back democratic control over technology, putting citizens at the center and using technologies and data to solve the city’s real problems: the right to housing, sustainable mobility, the fight against climate change, health … Citizens become co-creators and service owners, have control over the data they can share with the municipality to improve public services.
What makes it work?
Investments in education and information sharing programs on new technologies. Involving local businesses in development projects. Insistigating awareness that control over data, AI and infrastructure will determine the nature of institutions in the future.
Why is it part of Design Collisions ?
Because it is a platform of unique participatory democracy, belonging to people, built with a free, transparent software, guided by a Code of Ethics. Decidim has a scalable, configurable and integrable architecture but does not allow for any data or algorithmic manipulation. It is integrated with DECODE technology, which uses blockchain and cryptography to guarantee the right to privacy, security and data sovereignty.
Is it design?
Graphics and usability play a key role in Decidim’s success. The process of co-creation of citizens’ initiatives follows the methods of design thinking: the iteration of analysis, concept creation and prototyping.