For the first time ever, people in the city are to decide directly how to invest part of the municipal budget in neighbourhoods and districts. A participatory process has been conducted over the course of the year and now reaches its final voting stage.
The voting stage for the participatory budgets is from 10 to 20 June. Over those ten days, anybody over the age of 14 who is officially registered as living in the city can vote on projects for two city districts, their own and another one of their choice.
People can vote for as many projects as they like in each district, with a minimum of two, until the budget assigned for each district is used up. However, it is not obligatory to use up the budget in the voting process.
Virtual voting system with support points
Voting will be conducted on the digital participation platform decidim.barcelona. In addition, various mobile support points will be available around the neighbourhoods for voting purposes. Finally, from Monday 14 June to Sunday 20 June there will be nineteen voting support points for people who need assistance. These points will be set up in facilities all around the city.
Participatory budgets by district
In the prioritisation stage, held from 22 March to 5 April, citizens decided on the 20 projects from each district to reach the final voting stage. Out of nearly 48,000 supporting votes given at this stage, 204 projects were chosen: at least twenty for each district and four which were included due to a tie.
Finally, 184 projects will be in the definitive voting stage after proposing groups and municipal specialists went through the necessary details to allow citizens to choose between initiatives with a sufficient level of detail and cost to guarantee they fit in with the budget and are feasible.
In terms of topics, proposals for investment in facilities and school surroundings account for a quarter of the total, followed by projects for traffic-calming or remodelling streets (37). There are also projects for green spaces and urban allotments (24), mobility and the cycling network (21), children’s play areas (14) and improvements to public space (13).
Each district is assured a specific budget allocation, between them totalling 30 million euros of the municipal budget for local people to decide how to use. The amount has been divided equally, with 50% shared equally between the ten districts and the other 50% divided according to demographic and socio-economic criteria.
- Ciutat Vella: 3,400,000 euros
- L’Eixample: 3,000,000 euros
- Sants-Montjuïc: 3,600,000 euros
- Les Corts: 2,000,000 euros
- Sarrià – Sant Gervasi: 2,200,000 euros
- Gràcia: 2,400,000 euros
- Horta-Guinardó: 3,200,000 euros
- Nou Barris: 3,600,000 euros
- Sant Andreu: 3,000,000 euros
- Sant Martí: 3,600,000 euros
Further information and all the projects can be found at decidim.barcelona.