Social innovation ecosystems and sustainability in cities: a study in Florianópolis, Brazil

Abstract

The socio-environmental crisis and the complexity of urban problems highlight the importance of better understanding the emergence and configuration of social innovation ecosystems (SIEs) and their impact on cities. This article proposes a new theoretical–methodological approach that is inspired in a pragmatism perspective and presents results of its empirical application in the mapping and analysis of the SIE in the city of Florianopolis, Brazil. The study was put into practice through the creation and implementation of a collaborative digital platform that made it possible to make a cartography of the network that forms the city’s SIE, shedding light on the linkage between micro-meso-macro-scales of SIEs. The research findings contribute to raising key aspects in each scale of SIE that could foster or hinder social innovation dynamics. In this sense, besides contributing to understanding the dynamics of SIEs better, the purpose of this study was to analyze the configuration, scope, and limits of the SIE to reinforce the processes of democratic experimentation and to strengthen the sustainability of cities, especially in countries of the South, where these studies are still scarce.