Recent European social policies have highlighted the importance of socia l innovation as a tool to improve urban livability, in particular during the last decades of economic crisis, collapsing Welfare State and emergence of new social demands. While the Keynesian urban planning has shown great limits of economic sustainability, neoliberalism has introduced new risks of splintering urbanism: emergence of premium networked spaces, commodification of public services and financialization of local infrastructure (Graham; Marvin, 2001). Local community interests on social, cultural and environmental issues are often overwhelmed by economic development per se (Perkins, 2010). On the contrary, an increasing emphasis has been spread on community and its initiatives both in the governance of urban public spaces and in the delivery of public services (Swyngedouw, 2005). Civil society initiatives, actually, show a relevant capacity of social innovation linked to a deeper knowledge of community needs, enhancing transparency and information flows, stimulation of original solutions and, finally , a stronger motivation in (voluntary) workers (Bovaird, 2007). A set of Italian case studies of civil society activities have been chosen from the main sectors which mostly affect the livability of a city: health, education, housing, local mobility, environment, sport and cultural facilities. Founders and managers have been interviewed and reports, where available, have been collected and analyzed. The analysis aims at identifying the attitude of these organizations to social innovation, the origin and the main characteristics of this attitude and, finally, the impact on urban livability.
Non-profit service providers and social innovation for liveable and fair cities. Empirical evidence from Italian case studies
GROPPI, ANGELAMARIA;GARRONE, PAOLA MARIA
2014-01-01
Abstract
Recent European social policies have highlighted the importance of socia l innovation as a tool to improve urban livability, in particular during the last decades of economic crisis, collapsing Welfare State and emergence of new social demands. While the Keynesian urban planning has shown great limits of economic sustainability, neoliberalism has introduced new risks of splintering urbanism: emergence of premium networked spaces, commodification of public services and financialization of local infrastructure (Graham; Marvin, 2001). Local community interests on social, cultural and environmental issues are often overwhelmed by economic development per se (Perkins, 2010). On the contrary, an increasing emphasis has been spread on community and its initiatives both in the governance of urban public spaces and in the delivery of public services (Swyngedouw, 2005). Civil society initiatives, actually, show a relevant capacity of social innovation linked to a deeper knowledge of community needs, enhancing transparency and information flows, stimulation of original solutions and, finally , a stronger motivation in (voluntary) workers (Bovaird, 2007). A set of Italian case studies of civil society activities have been chosen from the main sectors which mostly affect the livability of a city: health, education, housing, local mobility, environment, sport and cultural facilities. Founders and managers have been interviewed and reports, where available, have been collected and analyzed. The analysis aims at identifying the attitude of these organizations to social innovation, the origin and the main characteristics of this attitude and, finally, the impact on urban livability.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
