1001 Smart Cities
🇺🇾 Montevideo

Por mi Barrio Citizen Reporting Platform

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 19 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

19 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

Por Mi Barrio was wired straight into Montevideo's complaints system, yet carried only 1% of reports, skewed to the better-off districts. Its makers closed it in 2022.

Outcome📉 Scaled back
Evidence📊 Independent
what does this mean?The strongest source is an independent non-academic evaluation: an audit office, a government or EU review, or an NGO. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byDATA Uruguay, under an agreement with the Intendencia de Montevideo and the Defensoría del Vecino
Scale🏙️ City-wide
FundingAvina's Fondo Acelerador de Innovaciones Cívicas, backed by Omidyar Network; no municipal funds.

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,247 documented projects · 🏙️ 10 more in Montevideo · 🗳️ Citizen participation guide · 🏛️ Governance projects

Por Mi Barrio was built by the Uruguayan NGO DATA on mySociety's FixMyStreet software, under an agreement with the Intendencia de Montevideo and the city's ombudsman, the Defensoría del Vecino. Unlike most FixMyStreet sites it was integrated into the city's own complaints system, so a report about rubbish, trees, potholes or blocked drains became a case in the Intendencia's Sistema Único de Reclamos. It was paid for by a civic-innovation fund of Avina and Omidyar Network, with no municipal money. In its first year, from August 2014 to August 2015, the city registered 1,101 reports through it, 541 of them about cleaning. The platform was replicated in the Costa Rican municipalities of Palmares and Osa and, in 2017, in Rivera. DATA closed it in April 2022.

Completed 📅 2014–2022

📊 Impact

A case study by two researchers, published in December 2018 with support from Fundación Avina, found that use was very low: even in Montevideo, its most successful site, Por Mi Barrio carried only 1% of all complaints the Intendencia received. Its reports came disproportionately from better-off areas: the two municipalities with the fewest poor households produced 46.7% of them while holding 23.2% of the city's population, and two thirds of users were men. In the study's survey of 316 users, comments centred on a perceived lack of response from the Intendencia and on opaque handling of complaints.

🎓 Lesson

DATA's own farewell says the project taught it that in civic technology the civic part is what matters, and laughs at its early forecasts, which assumed the only obstacle to better complaint handling was the lack of an app. A reporting channel cannot outrun the office that answers it: users' main grievance was the Intendencia's response, not the software, and the study found that the municipal partners could not sustain their initial commitment. By 2022 the state's digital services could reproduce almost all of Por Mi Barrio's functions and people had moved to social networks and messaging, so DATA retired it.

🏛️ GovernanceCitizen participationDigital governmentOpen data

Sources

↗ DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)The operator's farewell post announcing the end of the project. It says Por Mi Barrio was based on mySociety's FixMyStreet and grew out of talks with the Intendencia's open-data team; that DATA learned that in civic technology the civic part is what matters and now laughs at the figures it once expected; that the state's digital-transformation processes can reproduce almost all of its functions; and that communication has moved to social networks and messaging.
↗ mySociety — FixMyStreet community: Por Mi Barrio (case study)Case-study page by mySociety, the maker of FixMyStreet, describing Por Mi Barrio as a FixMyStreet-based site connected to the council's complaint system and quoting the DATA team's estimate that it handled around 5% of all reports the council received.
↗ El Observador — El 50% de las denuncias en app "Por Mi Barrio" son por problemas de limpieza (5 Aug 2015)Report on the first year of the app (August 2014 to August 2015): the Intendencia registered 1,101 reports through it, 541 (49%) about cleaning; it was funded with 100,000 dollars from the Avina and Omidyar civic-innovation accelerator fund and received no municipal or government funds.
↗ Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)Published December 2018Case study by Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina, supported by Fundación Avina, based on 25 interviews, a workshop, a survey of 316 Montevideo users and the platform's open data. It finds use very low (in Montevideo only 1% of all complaints to the Intendencia), reports skewed to better-off municipalities (46.7% from the two with the fewest poor households, which hold 23.2% of the population), two thirds of users men, users' comments centred on the Intendencia's lack of response, and municipal partners unable to sustain their initial commitment. It records replication in Palmares (November 2015) and Osa (February 2017) in Costa Rica and in Rivera in 2017.
↗ AGESIC — Catálogo Nacional de Datos Abiertos: Reclamos registrados en el Sistema Único de Reclamos de la Intendencia de Montevideo (dataset page)Dataset page for the city's complaints register; it lists third-party apps such as Por Mi Barrio among the channels through which complaints enter the Sistema Único de Reclamos.

📅 How old is the evidence?

Two clocks, kept apart: when this entry’s sources were published, and what has happened to its record in the atlas. Documented span: 2014–2022. 3 of 5 sources carry a publication date, from 5 August 2015 to 15 April 2022.

When the sources were published

  1. El Observador · pressEl Observador — El 50% de las denuncias en app "Por Mi Barrio" son por problemas de limpieza (5 Aug 2015)
  2. Zenodo (CERN) · researchCarolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
  3. DATA Uruguay · ngoDATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)

Every source, with links ↑

What happened to this record

  1. Entered the record
  2. Sources last read

Every revision, permanent →

Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 19 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence file · public beta 19 addressable claims, 5 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The file is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 19

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-58a6c382852a0252 descriptive
built by the Uruguayan NGO DATA on mySociety's FixMyStreet software
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
DATA's farewell says Por Mi Barrio was based on mySociety's FixMyStreet.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)
Claim 2 clm-b8779fd2d3cf03e5 descriptive
under an agreement with the Intendencia de Montevideo and the city's ombudsman, the Defensoría del Vecino
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The case study says DATA adapted the platform under an agreement with the Intendencia de Montevideo and the Defensoría del Vecino.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 3 clm-cbb4c9592b99d08f descriptive
Unlike most FixMyStreet sites it was integrated into the city's own complaints system
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The case study says that, unlike similar initiatives worldwide, the first implementation in Montevideo was integrated into the municipality's complaints system.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 4 clm-aff6041e84896ad6 descriptive
a report about rubbish, trees, potholes or blocked drains
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
El Observador lists the categories residents could report: trees, street cleaning (rubbish, debris, containers), sanitation (blocked or uncovered storm drains), potholes and public-space maintenance.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. El Observador — El 50% de las denuncias en app "Por Mi Barrio" son por problemas de limpieza (5 Aug 2015)
Claim 5 clm-8e8c50862504319a descriptive
became a case in the Intendencia's Sistema Único de Reclamos
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The case study describes the technical work of connecting Por Mi Barrio to the Intendencia's Sistema Único de Reclamos; the register's dataset lists third-party apps such as Por Mi Barrio as an entry channel.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
  2. AGESIC — Catálogo Nacional de Datos Abiertos: Reclamos registrados en el Sistema Único de Reclamos de la Intendencia de Montevideo (dataset page)
Claim 6 clm-3cc2e11fc70d6edf descriptive
paid for by a civic-innovation fund of Avina and Omidyar Network, with no municipal money
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
El Observador reports that the project was selected by Avina and Omidyar's civic-innovation accelerator fund, which provided 100,000 dollars, and that it received no municipal or government funds.
Caveat
The case study puts the Avina grant at close to 130,000 dollars.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. El Observador — El 50% de las denuncias en app "Por Mi Barrio" son por problemas de limpieza (5 Aug 2015)
Claim 7 clm-103414f42fc86bff quantitative
In its first year, from August 2014 to August 2015, the city registered 1,101 reports through it, 541 of them about cleaning
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
El Observador reports 1,101 complaints received by the Intendencia through the app in its first year (August 2014 to August 2015), 541 (49%) about cleaning.
Caveat
The 2018 case study dates the launch to 2015; El Observador's first-year window starts in August 2014.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. El Observador — El 50% de las denuncias en app "Por Mi Barrio" son por problemas de limpieza (5 Aug 2015)
Claim 8 clm-e3209eabb4372583 quantitative
replicated in the Costa Rican municipalities of Palmares and Osa and, in 2017, in Rivera
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The case study records launches in Palmares (November 2015) and Osa (February 2017) in Costa Rica and the extension to Rivera in Uruguay during 2017.
Caveat
The study notes that Maldonado was announced alongside Rivera but had not advanced, and that Río Negro and Rocha were only funding applications.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 9 clm-7bfe3f1e02f71ae9 quantitative
DATA closed it in April 2022
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
DATA's post of 15 April 2022 announces the end of the project.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)
Claim 10 clm-a22ffb94dc583e5f quantitative
A case study by two researchers, published in December 2018 with support from Fundación Avina
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The report is dated December 2018 and its authors thank Fundación Avina for supporting the study.
Caveat
Avina also funded the platform itself.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 11 clm-bd9749cdbd5a6148 quantitative
found that use was very low: even in Montevideo, its most successful site, Por Mi Barrio carried only 1% of all complaints the Intendencia received
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The study finds use incipient and very low; in Montevideo, the most successful case, Por Mi Barrio absorbs only 1% of all complaints made to the Intendencia.
Caveat
The DATA team's own estimate, quoted on mySociety's case-study page, was around 5%.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 12 clm-72f5bf5f2ed620c6 quantitative
the two municipalities with the fewest poor households produced 46.7% of them while holding 23.2% of the city's population
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The study's table shows the two municipalities with the fewest poor households (B and CH) concentrating 46.7% of the platform's reports, with 23.2% of Montevideo's inhabitants.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 14 clm-452e6f6322a4fcf6 quantitative
In the study's survey of 316 users, comments centred on a perceived lack of response from the Intendencia and on opaque handling of complaints
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
Of 316 survey responses, 132 comments were coded; they centred on a perceived lack of response to complaints by the Intendencia and non-transparent handling.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 15 clm-fe4efe134465ba7e descriptive
in civic technology the civic part is what matters
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
DATA writes that it learned the hard way that in 'civic technology' it is the second word that matters.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)
Claim 16 clm-4785192504005ba9 descriptive
laughs at its early forecasts, which assumed the only obstacle to better complaint handling was the lack of an app
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
DATA says it laughs when it remembers the figures it expected to reach, ironically noting the assumption that the only obstacle was the lack of an app.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)
Claim 17 clm-d64712e9c94d498a descriptive
users' main grievance was the Intendencia's response, not the software
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The study finds usability or technical problems in just over 20% of users' comments, with complaint handling and communication the most prominent issues.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 18 clm-55dececb5468acab descriptive
the study found that the municipal partners could not sustain their initial commitment
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
The study notes an expectations gap because municipal governments in both countries could not sustain their initial commitment over time.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018)
Claim 19 clm-b687cb68cbb64918 quantitative
By 2022 the state's digital services could reproduce almost all of Por Mi Barrio's functions and people had moved to social networks and messaging
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this file
What the mapping says
DATA writes that the state's digital-transformation processes can reproduce roughly 100% of Por Mi Barrio's functionality and that communication channels have moved to social networks and messaging.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-11-07-baseline effective 2026-11-07 · created 2026-11-07

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:04f8ebdf261689b81f4a58e52ec01c97641f4c2cbde329d05759dc0603625ad3
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
19
of 19 claims mapped
5
source dossiers
2
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
DATA Uruguay, under an agreement with the Intendencia de Montevideo and the Defensoría del Vecino
Actor types
civil-society, city-government
Funding model
grant
Funding description
Avina's Fondo Acelerador de Innovaciones Cívicas, backed by Omidyar Network; no municipal funds.
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

5 source dossiers

DATA Uruguay — Una despedida y un agradecimiento a PorMiBarrio.uy (15 Apr 2022) data.org.uy · 5 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ad9e7bd659f7720a
Publisher
Name not classified · data.org.uy
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2022-04-15
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-11-07
Dossier created
2026-11-07
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The operator's farewell post announcing the end of the project. It says Por Mi Barrio was based on mySociety's FixMyStreet and grew out of talks with the Intendencia's open-data team; that DATA learned that in civic technology the civic part is what matters and now laughs at the figures it once expected; that the state's digital-transformation processes can reproduce almost all of its functions; and that communication has moved to social networks and messaging.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
mySociety — FixMyStreet community: Por Mi Barrio (case study) mysociety.org · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-7e9b443097f74b67
Publisher
Name not classified · mysociety.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-11-07
Dossier created
2026-11-07
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Case-study page by mySociety, the maker of FixMyStreet, describing Por Mi Barrio as a FixMyStreet-based site connected to the council's complaint system and quoting the DATA team's estimate that it handled around 5% of all reports the council received.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
El Observador — El 50% de las denuncias en app "Por Mi Barrio" son por problemas de limpieza (5 Aug 2015) elobservador.com.uy · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-0b8afb40f2e46680
Publisher
Name not classified · elobservador.com.uy
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2015-08-05
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-11-07
Dossier created
2026-11-07
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Report on the first year of the app (August 2014 to August 2015): the Intendencia registered 1,101 reports through it, 541 (49%) about cleaning; it was funded with 100,000 dollars from the Avina and Omidyar civic-innovation accelerator fund and received no municipal or government funds.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina — Por Mi Barrio: Hallazgos, Lecciones y Futuro (December 2018) zenodo.org · 11 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-6a621dad00a815b9
Publisher
Name not classified · zenodo.org
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-11-07
Dossier created
2026-11-07
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Case study by Carolina Aguerre and Carla Bonina, supported by Fundación Avina, based on 25 interviews, a workshop, a survey of 316 Montevideo users and the platform's open data. It finds use very low (in Montevideo only 1% of all complaints to the Intendencia), reports skewed to better-off municipalities (46.7% from the two with the fewest poor households, which hold 23.2% of the population), two thirds of users men, users' comments centred on the Intendencia's lack of response, and municipal partners unable to sustain their initial commitment. It records replication in Palmares (November 2015) and Osa (February 2017) in Costa Rica and in Rivera in 2017.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
AGESIC — Catálogo Nacional de Datos Abiertos: Reclamos registrados en el Sistema Único de Reclamos de la Intendencia de Montevideo (dataset page) catalogodatos.gub.uy · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-702957f24010c46b
Publisher
Name not classified · catalogodatos.gub.uy
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-11-07
Dossier created
2026-11-07
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Dataset page for the city's complaints register; it lists third-party apps such as Por Mi Barrio among the channels through which complaints enter the Sistema Único de Reclamos.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this file
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇵🇭 GO Manila e-government app · Manila Two civic apps, opposite fates: Montevideo's NGO-built Por mi Barrio closed in 2022; Manila's GO Manila outlasted its founding mayor. 🇸🇬 OneService: Singapore's Unified Municipal Feedback App · Singapore Two municipal complaint apps: Montevideo's FixMyStreet-based Por mi Barrio closed (2014-22); Singapore's OneService still routes cases. 🇦🇷 Boti — WhatsApp City Assistant · Buenos Aires Latin American civic tech, opposite fates: Montevideo's Por mi Barrio closed in 2022; Buenos Aires' Boti still thrives inside WhatsApp.

Explore the wider context

🗺️ Your City's Problem Map Is Really a Map of Who Complains📖 Civic participation platform📖 Digital identity📖 Government super-app
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Por mi Barrio Citizen Reporting Platform” — Montevideo, Uruguay. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/montevideo-neighborhood-portal/ (last verified 2026-11-07). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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