The Observatory of the Madrid City Council: a Participatory Body in Fieri

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.In this sense, the Observatory of the Madrid City Council has recently become a stable body of social participation in which a group of citizens co-evaluate, co-deliberate and co-decide on certain aspects of municipal action in order to improve Public policies and services. Although not enough time has elapsed to evaluate the results and impacts of this participatory mechanism, it is pertinent to analyse its institutional design to check what are the lights (strengths) and shadows (weaknesses) of this innovative model, as well as viability in the time.