Redesigning Local Welfare between Social Innovation and Multi-stakeholder Governance: The Case of the Municipality of Parma in Pandemic Times

Abstract

To cope with increasing endogenous pressure (e.g., population aging and the emergence of new social risks) and scarce resources, Italian local welfare actors have had to reshuffle their economic, ideational, and human resources to deliver tailor-made responses to a wider range of beneficiaries through co-management. The Covid-19 pandemic further enabled the processes mentioned above. It contributed to a catalyzation of solutions from local hybrid organizations (a “welfare mix” or “collaborative governance”) to cope with the disruptive socio-economic consequences of the crisis and to foster social innovation processes. Considering these transformations, this article addresses the following research question: How have public actors strengthened their capacity to foster policy change through innovative and collaborative processes? This research aims to analyze the development of policy change at a local level with a view to carrying out an in-depth analysis of policy adaptation dynamics.