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