In the city of Barcelona, innovative plans are being developed that have the potential to transform urban democratic processes across Europe for decades to come.
Representatives from five European cities have gathered to take part in the Nets4Dem initiative’s first-ever Democracy Lab, where they are working together to find new digital solutions to the complex democratic challenges facing their local administrations.
From 17-19 September, the cities of Cascais, Istanbul, Rotterdam, Sofia and Vilnius, along with representatives from other cities, have collaborated closely with an experienced team of democracy experts and fellow municipal civil servants. Their goal has been to identify how, and if, they can use digital tools to rebuild their citizens’ trust in democratic processes, and ensure people’s voices are heard, no matter where they live or what their background is.
Organised by Eurocities and Barcelona City Council, the Lab’s goal is to give the cities realistic, actionable ideas that they can bring back to their administrations. These initial ideas can then serve as creative sparks for future, fully-realised city plans.
Challenges include how Sofia can use technology to help its citizens have their say on the development of green urban projects, and how Rotterdam can introduce technology that encourages more people to stand in its neighbourhood council elections.
Meanwhile, Vilnius aims to tackle its digital divide by giving older people the skills to use technology, while Cascais wants to understand how artificial intelligence can help its residents contribute to local budget plans. And the city of Istanbul needs guidance to establish an online forum where people of all backgrounds can ensure their voices are heard.
The event, explains Arnau Monterde, Director of Participation and Democratic Innovation at Barcelona City Council, allows participants to learn from one another and expand their ideas to enhance citizen participation.
“This Lab is an opportunity to strengthen relations between cities, academics and researchers and to together find answers to the significant democratic challenges we are facing,” says Monterde, who is also a Democracy Lab Mentor.
The Democracy Lab has been organised as part of Barcelona’s term as European Capital of Democracy (ECoD) for 2023-2024. Carried out in conjunction with the Strategic Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona, the EOCD aims to establish a space where European citizens can experiment with new forms of participatory and inclusive democracy.
“We need to try to move to participatory democracy, which means giving citizens a direct say in the development of new services, including digital services, that will impact and hopefully improve their lives,” adds Monterde.
Starting small and aiming big
The process being followed by the city representatives has been developed by Eurocities and the Nets4Dem partners, in collaboration with Platoniq Foundation, a Barcelona-based foundation with experience in facilitating digital participatory processes.
It involves working with city staff to break down their pre-conceived ideas about their plan, and then rebuild it over the course of the three days. At the end of the workshops, the goal is to have a pilot idea that can potentially become a broader strategy.
“It’s a very phased determination process where you identify the challenges, dismantle them, look at the plan from the beginning, and then mirror it with the experiences of other cities,” says Oliver Schulbaum, Democracy Lab Facilitator and Strategic Director of Platoniq Foundation.
“We don’t make the definitive solution that cities will use in the future,” he explains, “It’s about envisioning what the story and the technology will be, and how we see the potential of this idea in five years in a big project. Starting small and thinking we want to end up big.”
For Democracy Lab mentor, Elizabeth Calderón Lüning, Mission Lead for Democracy and Technology at the Democratic Society, the Lab’s innovative approach is a crucial means of helping cities meet the needs of their residents.
“I think it’s a really interesting format because we need cities to share knowledge and the challenges they are facing,” she explains. “Most of Europe’s population live in our cities and these are the places that must develop solutions to the democratic crisis we face.
“When we look at digital democracy, cities can play a huge role if they share software and the socio-technical process around these technologies, because cities are always acting on the direct needs of their citizens, so that way the technologies will reflect those needs.”
Rotterdam: Involving citizens’ in neighbourhood elections
One of the cities involved in the Democracy Lab is the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, which has a population of about 700,000 people.
Rotterdam’s 39 neighbourhood councils, introduced in 2022, play a crucial role in engaging citizens in local decision-making, but their effectiveness depends on how well they represent the local community. In the most recent neighbourhood elections, the voting turnout was only 38%, while the city is finding it very challenging to find candidates to stand in the next elections in 2026.
“We came to the Lab because we want help to think of new technologies that will motivate people to be part of democracy in our local areas,” says Nasra Djori, Democracy Manager for Rotterdam City Council.
“We found it a positive experience, because we got to meet other cities facing similar challenges, so we could learn from each other and feel inspired. It was also important to learn more about the technological and democratic challenges that have to come together.”
Following the Democracy Lab, the city has developed an initial idea for an app and community festival that will encourage people to have a greater say in local politics.
Sofia: Strengthening collaboration between the city and citizens
Another city taking part is Sofia, which has a population of around 1.5 million people and wants to empower citizens to play a bigger role in decisions taken about the city and the urban projects that are implemented.
The city has 24 districts and its local administration wants to introduce new civic technologies that give people the chance to choose between innovative green and sustainable projects that are proposed for their districts.
“Up to now, many of our citizens felt they did not have a voice, which created frustrations that led to only 35% voting turnout in the last local elections,” says Ivan Goychev, Deputy Mayor of Sofia. “The technologies we want to use, such as Decidem, will allow people from all backgrounds to vote and share their ideas, so we can get clear guidance from our local residents.”
The Deputy Mayor explains that the Democracy Lab offered a great opportunity to learn about technologies being developed and implemented by other cities. “I found new ideas here that was not expecting to pop up from other city’s experiences, they will help us not to make mistakes that we have made in the past.
“Specifically, I want to develop a targeted initial project that will train a small team who can lead our participatory budgeting project.”
Vilnius: Supporting older citizens to use democratic technology
The city of Vilnius is one of the greenest cities in Europe and is renowned for the technological advancements it has made over the past decade.
One of the most successful tools introduced by the city’s administration has been ‘Fix My City,’ a free online platform that allows citizens to register their issues in the city. The platform also cuts down bureaucracy, is easy to use and giving people direct communication with local government.
However, despite this success, the speed of technological advancement across Europe, means the city administration has seen gaps appear in its technology, particularly when it comes to involving older citizens in its democratic processes.
“Our challenge focuses on bridging the digital divide in our city by involving older adults in using open data to boost their participation in city governance,” explains Dalius Kazlauskas, Chief Technology Officer at the Vilnius City Council.
“We want to educate senior citizens about municipal services and products, fostering a more inclusive and tech-savvy community. Our goal at the Democracy Lab was to find new approaches and technologies to implement our plans.
He adds: “Being part of the Democracy Lab has taught us new skills, ideas and perspectives we will bring back to our city.”
Following the Lab, the city has developed a pilot plan to encourage volunteers to work with older citizens to help them learn about technologies.
Making people “feel heard and part of our cities”
For Petra Dzurovcinova, Cities Digital Transformation Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme, who is a mentor at the Democracy Lab, the first-ever event has been a big success.
“I think it’s really important to talk about democracy, because it’s so intangible, but it’s the fabric of our society and it makes us all feel welcome, heard, and part of the cities we live in,” she explains.
“But because it is so abstract, we need to anchor it in something that is understandable for us, and for many, it’s the way we communicate in digital spaces and how we feel included.”
Petra adds: “It’s really good to marry these topics and create something that shows cities care and that democracy is really important for our society.”
The event in Barcelona is the first of three Democracy Labs that are being organised by the Nets4Dem initiative, with the other two events planned for 2025-2026. Each edition will be hosted by a different city and dedicated to a different democratic challenge.
You can find out more information on the Nets4dem website.
_____
Photos from the Democracy Lab are available here. All photos in this article are copyright of the Nets4Dem initiative.
The Nets4Dem project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EU Horizon. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
