European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

1. Urban Patterns and Citizen Participation:
Geographical Data Analysis of Decidim Barcelona
Matteo Manca1, Pablo Aragón1,2, Antonio Calleja-López3
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
London, UK - November 15th-17th, 2017
2017: Inequality and Imbalance
1 Eurecat,Technology Center of Catalonia
2 Universitat Pompeu Fabra
3 Internet Interdisciplinary Institute - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain

2. Crisis of democracy
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
The crisis of representative democracy in the last three decades
Period of fertile democratic innovation supported by an
intensive and creative use of ICTs

3. Decidim Barcelona
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Digital platform developed by
the Barcelona City Council for
citizen participatory processes,
e.g., the development of the
strategic city plan.
https://www.decidim.barcelona/
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

4. Decidim Barcelona: How does it work?
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Physical meetings
Digital participation
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
All proposals
Citizens
Comment, discuss
and vote proposals
Accepted
proposals

5. Taxonomy of thematic categories:
• Good Living
• Ecological Transition
• Plural Economy
• Good Government
• Global Justice
Decidim Barcelona
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https://www.decidim.barcelona/
Scope:
• City
• District
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

6. Decidim Barcelona
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Given that:
• Decidim represents a public repository of citizens’ interests.
• Items like proposals and meetings are geolocalized.
Goal:
• Detect urban patterns and possible gaps in citizen participation.
• Identify main topics of interests.
• Help institutions to promote a more equal and balanced forms
of participation.
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

7. Preliminary analysis
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Online participation
• 10,860 proposals
165,088 votes
18,191 comments
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

8. Preliminary analysis
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Offline participation
o 410 physical meeting
o 11,577 attendees
o 2,000 civic organizations
o 5,179 proposals in physical
meetings
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

9. Preliminary analysis
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Hybrid participation
• 5,179 proposals in
physical meetings
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

10. Proposals examples
Preliminary analysis
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
Most voted district proposalsCity proposal

11. Most voted proposals
Preliminary analysis
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
https://www.decidim.barcelona/processes/pam/f/1/

12. Meeting examples
Preliminary analysis
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
District meeting

13. Preliminary analysis
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
Meeting distribution by category

14. Preliminary analysis
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
Proposals in district and city meetings

15. Future work
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• Characterize which factors might affect inequality and
imbalance of citizen participation.
• Compare these results with external geographical data, e.g. the
rate of Internet access by district.
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science

16. References
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European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science
● M. Brito Vieira and D. Runciman. Representation. Cambridge: Polity, 2008.
● M. Castells. Communication power. Oxford University Press, 2009.
● C. Crouch. Post-democracy. Polity Cambridge, 2004.
● D. Della Porta. Can democracy be saved?: participation, deliberation and social movements. John
Wiley & Sons, 2013.
● J. Keane. The life and death of democracy. Simon and Schuster, 2009.
● J. Rancie`re, D. Panagia, and R. Bowlby. Ten theses on politics. Theory & event, 5(3), 2001.
● P. Rosanvallon and A. Goldhammer. Counter-democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust, volume 7.
Cambridge University Press, 2008.
● S. Tormey. The end of representative politics. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
● S. Zˇizˇek. The ticklish subject: The absent centre of political ontology. Verso, 2000.

17. Thank you!
Urban Patterns and Citizen Participation: Geographical Data Analysis of Decidim Barcelona
Matteo Manca @mattemanca
Questions?
European Symposium Series on Societal Challenges in Computational Social Science