Sergio Amadeu da Silveira - Cidadania e Redes Digitais

eng
c i t i z e n s h i p a n d d i g i t a l n e t w o r k s
Urban spaces emerge, in this new century, as the territories of multiple
technical systems, articulated by intersections of global forces that are
daily stretched and reshaped by local creations. As the locus of daily
conflicts, the town shelters much of the hope in finding more effective
public policies for environmental, educational, economical and healthrelated
issues, among many others. And the urban space is also the stage where one
can see more clearly the rise of civic collaborative movements — whether they are
anonymous or not, decentralized or not — which constantly reorganize the various
social relations. Considering those two related dimensions, namely, the action of
municipal government and the action of citizens, the polis stands out as the protagonist
of the several changes that are required for the globalized world to be more fair
and sustainable.
The role and the responsibility of municipality increase before the reduced
power of action of the federal and state governments, both facing the rise of global
capitalist forces and the growing distrust on the current political instruments for
state and federal representation — a phenomenon taking place in Brazil and elsewhere
around the world (CASTELLS, 2008). In this context, our assumption is
that local action, in a sense, can be more accurate, sensitive and representative of the
interests of those who inhabit the city, even under the pressure of global economic
forces. Taking advantage of the fissures on political and financial articulations, the
metropolis can reinvent itself for the benefit of its citizens.
As one of the biggest stages of the contemporary economic processes, the cities
have become centers of development and spaces of survival for a growing number of
people. A study released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, http://
www.unfpa.org.br) gives an idea of how big this phenomenon is: it indicates that,
in 2008, more than half of the world population (something around 3.3 billion
people) already lived in urban areas. According to the same study, they will be 5 billion
people in 2030. The expectation for the total world population is to exceed the
number of 9 billion people in 2050 (UNFPA, 2007, 2008).
Two observations stand out from this report: 1) the population increase will be
bigger among the poorest, and 2) the growth of cities will not be due to the arrival
of more migrants, which means that current residents will sustain this growth.
As paradoxical as it may seem, urban concentration — which could be considered
the worst possible scenario for that prognosis to happen — brings part of
the solutions. This is because, in theory, cities are the place where one can find the
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