El espacio público como potencia. Controversias sociológicas desde la experiencia participativa de Medellín

Abstract

This article discusses the habermasian categories of public space within the parameters of participatory practices in Latin America. This work discusses the participatory planning process of Medellín from the mid 1990s, through examining the contrast between the normative behavior of deliberative democracy and certain sociological approaches to participation. The experience of Medellín, during a period of severe paramilitary hostility to popular organizations, allows us to observe the work of concrete projects put together by social actors within specific constraints. Although, as in this case, the democratic potential of this process remains incomplete, the possibilities offered by participatory public spaces can be seen not only as a means of proliferating the willingness to reflect on political processes, but also as a way of mobilizing citizens. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]