Spotlight: Global cities, building together
/Spotlight: Global cities, building together
The Decidim and CONSUL platforms were started in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid, respectively). Both platforms have gained international acclaim and usage, with many governments and institutional users around the world. The most recent contributions to Decidim's Github codebase come from developers in Spain and Romania, and the city of Helsinki has assigned software developers to help build out the platform to power its participatory budgeting project. Decidim has been adopted by close to 90 cities, regions, and institutions, reaching over 1 million users. CONSUL has been used by 35 countries and 135 institutions.
By collaborating on code, operators of open source platforms are able to compete with those owned by privately funded software companies. The two Spanish platforms' global networks of users and code contributors show what is possible when local governments work together across national boundaries and continental divides.