Urbanormativity in Citizen Participation: Evaluation of the Quality of Participation and Demographic Dimension. A Study of the Valencian Community (Spain)

Abstract

Urbanormativity refers to the fact that urban-centric thought has become global, becoming the measure of everything that happens, also in the field of social sciences. As an example of this, this article is based on the recognition of a common error in measuring the quality of citizen participation when it occurs in rural areas. After justifying the concepts that explain the perspective that motivated the first suspicion -and the whole work-, the results of an initial study that had the purpose of measuring the quality of participation in the municipalities of the Valencian Community are presented. The rest of the investigation shows how, indeed, not only this but also other investigations present biases that can be framed within that urban normativity: in rural areas, participation is made in other ways and with other instruments, but these are not always recognized as participatory processes. This not only underestimates the involvement of rural citizens from abroad, but also encourages a kind of vision contrary to reality among the rural population itself.