The city’s first participatory budgets culminated with a ten-day voting period which saw nearly 40,000 local people take part, either through the Decidim Barcelona platform or one of the voting support points. Some 184 proposals reached the final stage, with 30 million euros of the municipal budget to be used to implement 76 projects around all the city’s districts.
The participation figures (39,433 votes) put Barcelona ahead of the first participatory budgets held in Madrid in 2016, with 32,800 votes, and very close to Paris, which held a process attracting 40,745 votes in 2014. Both cities have a much bigger population than the Catalan capital. The process was first organised in New York in 2014, with a population five times bigger than Barcelona and participation figures of 51,000 people.
Thirty million euros for 76 projects
The projects which got the most votes in each district will be implemented in the next few years, with an overall investment of 30 million euros for the city’s neighbourhoods. In all, 39,433 people took part, casting 55,076 votes.
The final voting stage was between 10 and 20 June, with each participant able to back projects in two districts: their own, where they are registered as living, and a second of their choice. Each district had a designated share of the budget, to be used between as many projects chosen until it was used up.
Once all the votes were cast, a list of projects for each district was compiled according to the number of votes each proposal received. From that list, the projects with the most votes were selected until the allocated budget was all accounted for. This means for example that a project occupying third place on the list might not be selected if it would push the remaining budget over the limit, while the next project with the most votes on the list may get in if the budget fits.
School projects, street calming and more greenery
Most of the project categories which reached the final voting stage saw some projects selected. The categories with the most projects relate to school facilities or surroundings, with 14 selected, calming or remodelling streets, with 12, and green spaces and allotments, with 11.
In terms of districts with the highest participation, Sants-Montjuïc and L’Eixample each attracted 9,000 voters, followed by Sant Martí, with nearly 8,000 local people taking part.
A year and a half of citizen participation
The voting stage for the participatory budgets culminates a process which has taken a year and a half. While this stage saw nearly 40,000 local people get involved, the stages for proposals, debate and prioritisation involved a total of 64,571 people. In addition, the decidim.barcelona platform, where users could track and vote for projects during all these months, saw 56,578 new users register.
For full information on the results of the participatory budgets go to decidim.barcelona.