The Orcasitas Participation Model, which has been under way since the 1970s, has its latest milepost in the innovative Orcasitas Active Project, which has generated favourable dynamics for the integral development of the district, affecting both social and town planning aspects and supplying an innovative method for public participation linking three basic factors, citizenship, public space and city model.

The project’s first impact is the renovation of the traditional district association with the creation of the Orcasitas Forum. An ambit that served to drive the project and that currently continues its activity containing all the social organisations in the district (from the neighbours’ association to the football team and even the parish) which provide the synergy needed for local development.

The Orcasitas Forum provided the neighbours with a public consultancy to collect their demands and proposals. Over 1000 neighbours participate (almost 100% of the heads of family), giving rise to a series of initiatives which, organised and prioritised in later meetings with experts and thematic discussions, form the District Development Strategic Plan, which is being implemented with the supervision of the Orcasitas Forum and that includes actions in housing, employment, education, ecology, equipment, etc.

Throughout this process, the neighbours individually signed a Civic Agreement that contains the inhabitants’ commitments to their own district. Through the Orcasitas Agreement, the neighbours have adopted a commitment in matters of civic affairs, participation, neighbourliness, solidarity and ecology. A measure that is greatly contributing to neighbourliness in the district, preventing conflicts in many areas.

The project has been an innovation in the setting up of public participation and creating a city, revitalising the tradition of participation in Orcasitas and strengthening the position of this district of Madrid in the metropolitan area. The Orcasitas model has been recognised by many institutions - universities and even the Prime Minister’s office and the Royal Household, etc.