Dialogic processes of social services planification: The process of change in the districts of La Milagrosa and la Estrella (Albacete)

Abstract

In general, the lack of tools suitable to aid the social transformation in the so called ghetto barrios favors the development of institutions and social services that do not meet the goals for which they were established. The barrios of La Milagrosa and La Estrella in Albacete illustrate a change in such regard. In those barrios has started an integrated social transformation grounded both in science and in egalitarian dialogue between social actors and researchers. The public services in the area break bureaucratic dynamics; there is mutual acknowledgement between the social services and the citizenry that activates the motivation and capacities of people who before showed a passive role in their relation with social services. The inhabitants of those ghettos have changed their perception of the State and of public services, and an active citizenry has developed, improving the life of the neighbors from the two barrios, who are people from quite diverse origins.