MADRID ESCUCHA AND EXPERIMENTA DISTRITO TWO EXPERIENCES OF COLLABORATION AND SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION

Abstract

Based on the analysis of several versions of the experiences of participation and social experimentation promoted by the InCiLab citizen innovation laboratory in Madrid, this article examines the scope and capacity for innovation of citizen laboratories as spaces for collaboration, the development of prototypes and the construction of collective intelligence. These experiences show that, through collective interchange, it is possible to create learning communities to rethink life in the city, generating meeting spaces in which citizens can present and discuss projects for the city and their neighborhoods. These initiatives also facilitate the creation of spaces where citizens and public servants can meet to rethink citizen-institution relations so that both parties can learn and develop different ways of living in the city. Finally, these laboratories respond to certain institutional dynamics that arose after the cycle of protests that followed 15-M in Spain and that, among their many expressions, reflect renewed and widespread interest in citizen involvement in public affairs.x|