‘Participation’ is one of the magic words learned by public administrations, especially local ones, to extend and deepen democratic processes. How much of this is an image campaign, control and co-optation of social creativity, a sly use of citizens to justify processes as vertical as ever, or even a relinquishing of responsibilities, is something that gives much food for thought and would give much to talk about.
For this reason, it may be interesting to attend the conference next Wednesday the 27th at 5:30 PM at the Espai Jove Gràcia (Gran de Gràcia, 190, Barcelona) under the title ” Democracy, education and participation has convened the area of
Citizenship and coexistence
of the Barcelona City Educational Project. The conference has the incentive of the presence of Tomás R. Villasante, director of the CIMAS (International Observatory of Citizenship and Sustainable Environment).
Although even in LaFundició we have our differences about the work developed by Villasante and his team from the Complutense University of Madrid, we agree on the interest of some of the analytical and methodological tools they propose, and we hope that even in such an institutional context as that of the PECB they maintain a critical stance (in the most “scientific” sense of the word) regarding participatory processes.