More about participatory democracy

Source: http://www.thepolisblog.org/2010/02/participatory-budgeting.html

Direct democracy is the real basis of democracy, the real rule of people. In participatory democracy citizens meet, discuss, value the different options and finally make decisions based on consensus. Maybe the process is longer, but it´s more satisfactory for the citizens and it contributes to the development of  citizen´s political awareness.

Source: http://home.getinvolvedwa.org/participatory_democracy.html

There have been different experiences of participatory democracy, especially in local governments. The most famous case is the one of the city of Porto Alegre in Brazil. More than 100,000 inhabitants of this city got involved in the decision making and they could decide on where the municipal budget should be invested. On the following link you can read more about Porto Alegre´s achievements:

http://www.participedia.net/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting:_Porto_Alegre

Source: http://www.torontohousing.ca/key_initiatives/community_planning

Source: http://www.progressivestates.org/node/22080

Here you can read a short history of paticipatory budgeting: 

http://www.watsonblogs.org/participatorybudgeting/historypb.html

There have been some experiences about participatory budgeting in Spain, such as in Córdoba, Seville, Barcelona, Albacete or Getafe. On this link you can find more information about this topic: 

http://www.presupuestosparticipativos.com/

And this is the link to Córdoba´s  and Seville´s town halls, where they explain how to take part in the process of decision making: 

http://planparticipativo.cordoba.es/como-participar.html

http://www.sevilla.org/presupuestosparticipativos/init.do