In recent years, digital technologies have been used to support discussions about the city and also to involve citizens in participatory public processes. However, despite the widespread use of social media platforms, old issues related to engagement and participation still persist in digital initiatives. The main goal of this study is to carry out an empirical evaluation of a collective intelligence model that combines crowdsourcing and social storytelling to support discussions about the city from a bottom-up perspective. Within a design science research approach we designed a participatory action study that was carried out through a workshop with students and professionals from different areas, such as architecture, urban design and information technology. As a result, we were able to assess whether the collective intelligence model was acceptable to the participants by investigating whether the behavioral assumptions were valid and thus outlining some contributions to the field of urban informatics.