Public support to socia innovation. The need of a planning perspective

Abstract

In urban studies social innovation mainly means voluntary, non-statutory, citizen-led or community-led initiatives implemented to respond to unmet or new social needs. Until now the most influential research has overestimated the potential of social innovation to come up with progressive solutions alone without the support of public action. The paper considers public support to social innovation key to encourage local activation in fragile urban areas as well as to insert community-based activation in a strategic planning perspective. In discussing the cases of Barcelona and Bologna, the concluding remarks suggest a reframing of social innovation as a social and territorial construct that might need to be mobilised ad hoc within particular spatial settings.