Chapter 8: Environments for Deliberative Democracy

This chapter discusses the desirability and feasibility of designing environments dedicated to deliberative democracy, like the ancient Athenian Agora, 2,600 years ago. One of the lessons learned from the Gedanken experiment, discussed in Chapter 7 of the book, is that the “cybernetic embedding” experienced by employing the virtual space of Logosofia, is inferior to that of the physical space of the Demosofia Situation Room. ​This finding has confirmed that it is very difficult to replicate virtually the strong interaction and intimacy created among the group members in the Demosofia space. The chapter discusses the Social Planetarium, conceptualized by Harold Lasswell in the decade of the 1960s, as the equivalent ​of the astronomical planetarium. The closest capability to the vision of Lasswell is the European Union Parlamentarium in Brussels; however, this facility is suitable for displaying information, and not for engaging stakeholders in designing their futures. ​The authors conclude by describing their experience in establishing in 2018, the Demoscopio facility in the City of Heraklion in Crete, and the lessons learned from this project with municipal governance.