MINIPUBLIC AND DEMOCRATIC INNOVATION THE CASE OF THE LAPENNA GARDEN

Abstract

Minipublics emerged as a democratic innovation in the context of the “deliberative turn” and of the criticism on representative democracy in the 1970s, rescuing the sortition as an alternative to democratic qualification. This article describes the first Brazilian experience of Minipublic, within the scope of the Jardim Lapenna Neighborhood’s Plan, in São Paulo city, which made recommendations for revitalizing the main urban space in the neighbourhood. From an exploratory and contextualist investigation of the application of the Minipublic, this paper classifies the discursive contexts in categories aiming to analyse the main perceptions of the social actors involved in the deliberation processes which were carried out. This assesses the theoretical-normative wager that the deliberative process favours the structuring of a collective reasoning. The article concludes by reflecting upon the potential of Minipublics as a democratic innovation.