HubOut Lab for Social Innovation. How Public Bodies and Young Citizens Can Co-Design Actions for Local Development

Abstract

The idea of HubOut was born in 2013 as a result of considerations on the impact of youth policies on local development, matured during the continuous exchange between the Municipality of Cinisello Balsamo and a rather large network of local stakeholders. It was born as a Creative Laboratory but soon it transformed itself. The development of HubOut relies on a debate promoted at a national level, that combines social innovation actions with local development. The idea was to start from the concept of Hub, considering it as a keystone and not as a centre. A hub for the creation of new relationships and networks, for the intersection of ideas and creativity, for the development of active and aware citizenship and social cohesion. The word Out placed near this idea of Hub wants to promote the birth of hubs, outside a “centre”, because the focus is on relationships, in particular on those with the places we live in. Every Hub has the same function, it must encourage social innovation as a lever for the development of a sense of community and belonging. Urban regeneration is one of the mantras these days. We believe that it is important to combine the action of renewal of spaces and infrastructures with the ability of territories to re-activate and re-animate themselves, because only in this way bonds between citizens can be strengthened, creating cohesion and active citizenship. Elements on which the action of HubOut leverages are those of knowledge and competences. Knowledge and learning by doing are contemporaneously objectives and incentives for the development of a community.