Conectividade e conexão nos processos participativos: novas tecnologias e velhos problemas

Abstract

The planning of the city includes a reflection on which development paths are desired and how existing problems can be solved, with popular participation as an essential condition. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have undergone major changes in various sectors of society and, above all, have opened new communication channels and new forms of participation through virtual environments. This work aims to carry out a survey of virtual participation devices to analyze their use in contemporary participatory processes and to identify and systematize the main problems of contemporary participatory processes. To achieve the proposed objectives, six virtual participation devices are analyzed and classified through the types of connection they establish with users and, to reflect on their use, the barriers of contemporary participatory processes are investigated, systematizing them as problems of the tool, process problems and citizen problems. Among the issues pointed out are the digital exclusion, the lack of legitimacy of networks, political will, social inequality and the lack of political engagement by citizens. The results of the research demonstrate that the participation devices constitute new processes, but do not solve the problems of traditional processes, they bring new possibilities for participation while adding more complexity to the process.