Decidim
Decidim ("we decide" in Catalan) is a free, open-source participatory democracy framework built in Ruby on Rails, originally developed by Barcelona City Council and first deployed in January 2016 for the city's participatory action plan. It is now governed by the Decidim Association, an independent body separate from the city.
The platform supports a wide range of participatory mechanisms: citizen proposals, participatory budgeting, consultations, collaborative legislation drafting, citizens' assemblies, and participatory planning. Its modular architecture lets governments and organisations deploy whichever components suit their context.
As of 2025, Decidim has over 400 active instances across 20+ countries, including Barcelona, Helsinki, New York City, Mexico City, and the French National Assembly. A memorandum of understanding with the Brazilian government was signed in 2024.
Links
- Website: decidim.org
- Source code: github.com/decidim/decidim
- Wikipedia: Decidim