The impact of urban acupuncture: Adopting a social innovation lens to assess the value of localized urban intervention

In a world faced with grand societal challenges, sustainable and inclusive urban planning becomes a priority. Several tools and approaches to urban regeneration has been developed to involve communities in urban regeneration interventions. Among those, urban acupuncture represents a means to promote localized interventions to reclaim urban spaces. Interventions as such are conceptualized as sustainable social innovation bridging the gap between physical regeneration of the space and collaborative practices shared by participating individuals, groups and organizations. In this conundrum of planning and social practices, urban acupuncture can generate social, economic and environmental effects at the neighborhood level and ignite a transformation at the wider city level. Along these lines, the “Piazze Aperte” program implemented in Milan offered an opportunity to innovate urban planning tools by focusing on collaboration between public administrations and grassroots initiatives. To study the effects generated by 4 projects executed in the NoLo district, we developed a multi-dimensional evaluation model based on Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT). Results indicate that urban acupuncture effectively foster social cohesion, improve quality of life, and stimulate collaboration. However, it faces limitations in achieving environmental sustainability and adaptability.