Urban politics of ordinary digital participation
Based on long-term ethnographic and “chatnographic” fieldwork (2015-2024), this article examines the ordinary uses of digital technologies in urban risk management in San José, Costa Rica, focusing on residents’ communication practices via WhatsApp and Facebook around flooding of the Ocloro River. I...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/netcom, |
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| Autors principals: | , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
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Netcom
2025
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| Matèries: | |
| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | Based on long-term ethnographic and “chatnographic” fieldwork (2015-2024), this article examines the ordinary uses of digital technologies in urban risk management in San José, Costa Rica, focusing on residents’ communication practices via WhatsApp and Facebook around flooding of the Ocloro River. It analyzes how inhabitants mobilize mainstream digital tools to organize collectively in the face of environmental risks and to redefine their relationship with territory and public institutions. Our paper combines interviews, participant observation, and qualitative and quantitative analysis of 4,479 messages exchanged in a WhatsApp group created and managed by residents. The results highlight three main dynamics: (1) the infrapolitical self-organization of residents during emergencies; (2) the accountability—and at times contestation—of public authorities, made possible through the circulation of images, data, and digital traces; and (3) the gradual politicization of environmental issues, leading to collective mobilization for the protection of the river basin, beyond the immediate concern of flooding.The study thus reveals a process of digital placemaking, in which social media become instruments for producing knowledge and governing territory “from below.” WhatsApp and Facebook—everyday, mainstream applications—are used for the production, archiving, and mobilization of lay knowledge in legal and political action. In the Latin American context, these ordinary digital practices contribute to reconfiguring urban governance and transforming citizen participation into a locally grounded form of environmental action. |
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