Stitching the City – Valencia as a Laboratory for Democratic Infrastructure

The article explores how a team of practitioners from the NGO Democratic Society turned a climate disaster in Valencia into an opportunity to prototype democratic infrastructure. Moving beyond improvised volunteer efforts, they are experimenting with Spaces for Encounter, hybrid civic hubs where neighbours, institutions and civic groups can meet, collaborate and design responses to shared challenges. Still a work in progress, the strategy is framed through the Invisible Democracies campaign, which recognises everyday practices around technology, food and culture as forms of democracy. The model sets out a repeatable roadmap to move from catalyst-led initiatives to shared governance, with the next phase focused on scaling this ecosystem through youth programmes, hackathons and new nodes in schools, libraries and other public spaces.