Political participation and the ICT in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil

Authors

  • Manoela Cagliari Tosin Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  • Heleniza Ávila Campos Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Keywords:

ICT, City Government, Political Participation, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract

Amidst a crisis of representative democracy, and under the pressure from both social distancing and remote work brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are recognized nowadays not only as opportune tools, but also as essential features for social reproduction. In the political field, the inclusion of ICT for the articulation between the state and society accelerates the practices already in use. Nevertheless, despite its democratic potential, the question remains: are such new technologies effectively used by the state for this purpose, or are they used only to reproduce the same excluding practices? The present paper examines the use of ICT by the state for political participation, by analyzing the case of the Porto Alegre City Government [Prefeitura Municipal de Porto Alegre - PMPA], in Southern Brazil. It focuses on the increase of the use of ICT by the city government to ensure political participation in city planning and urban administration. The analysis comprises the period from 1999 (year of the launch of the official website) to the present day, looking into the enhancement and modernization of the platforms due to the advancement of the pandemic. Therefore, the paper aims to sketch a general panorama of the evolution of the usage of ICT by the state in the municipal sphere in recent history, focusing on political participation.

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Author Biographies

Manoela Cagliari Tosin, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

She is an Architect and Urbanist, a researcher at the Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where she investigates the participation of society in politics, with an emphasis on the use of Information and Communication Technologies. She works as a consultant to the public authorities in the formulation of municipal master plans.

Heleniza Ávila Campos, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

She is an Architect and Urbanist, has a master's degree in Urban Development and a Ph.D. in Geography. She teaches at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in the Department of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, and in the Postgraduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning. She works in the area of urban territorialities and master plans and is a member of the Metropolises Observer - Porto Alegre section.

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Published

2020-12-19

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 21 (2020): V!21 We Have Never Been so Digital

Section

Ágora