Participation in the second edition of the Participatory Budgets exceeded the figures in all stages of the process held in 2021. The final stage saw 48,796 people in Barcelona take part, nearly 9,000 more than four years ago, with votes in the prioritisation stage rising from 17,763 votes to 30,367. In all, adding face-to-face participation and voting on the decidim.barcelona platform, the process mobilised 89,500 people, nearly 25,000 more than the first edition.

This year’s process added children’s participation (8-13 years old). Three proposals put forward by children were chosen:

• Transformation of the playground at the Escola Barcelona (Les Corts)
• Improvements to areas around 10 schools (Sarrià-Sant Gervasi)
• Improvements to the playground at the Escola Ferran i Clua (Sant Andreu)

By district, Sant Martí headed the list with eleven projects, followed by Nou Barris with nine, while Ciutat Vella, L’Eixample, Sants-Montjuïc and Les Corts each have eight. Elsewhere, seven projects prospered in Gràcia, six each in Horta-Guinardó and Sant Andreu, and five in Sarrià-Sant-Gervasi. In all, works and improvements will be carried out in 35 different neighbourhoods.

Works in schools account for the largest number of projects, with sixteen; there are fifteen street transformations to generate space for pedestrians or cyclists; twelve initiatives for urban greenery; eleven for furniture and various facilities; eleven for other municipal facilities; nine for recreational and sports areas, and two relating to assets for public use.

Monitoring commissions will be constituted in the coming weeks, with one for each district. These will involve project promoters, municipal specialists, and in the case of children’s projects, the children that backed them.