Citizen Participation in Local Administrations. The Case of City Hall, Madrid

The local sphere is the participatory space par excellence. The government closeness to citizens makes not only the existence of channels of interaction and dialogue easier, but also the starting of tools that allow the direct intervention of these citizens in the collective decisions that must be taken by the local governments in the frame of their respective competences. Nevertheless, the fact that this task has been performed with some misgivings has placed it within the mere area of the representative democracy. But according to some studies, Spanish citizens want more participatory processes. For this reason, in the City Hall of Madrid has established an area in its government of citizen participation, transparency and open government. However, beyond these changes there is a need for efficient specific mechanisms including strategic plans for citizen participation. These would require outdoing normative trends focusing on a formal recognition of participation rights but not concerned with the promotion of the practice of this right. That is why this paper is going to take stock of what contributed and what is the meaning and results of the practices that have been launched recently by the City Hall of Madrid. The analysis is structured in two main parts. In the first, an explanation of the reasons is made because it is necessary the citizen participation in the public administration and its repercussion. In the second, we already address the analysis of the participatory instruments employed by the City Hall of Madrid in this regard.