This paper revisits the relevance of conflict in governance and citizenship practices in cities. Europe national urban policies were readjusted in terms of economic policies and state expenditures in the 1980s and then again and more severely after the 2008 financial and economic crisis. Policy discourses in urban policy have emphasised the beneficial consequences of social and political consensus in helping cities to restructure economically as part of ‘good governance’. At the same time, the paradigm of citizenship understood as a system of social and political inclusion based on economic redistribution and political participation has been substituted by one that has the objective to ensure social cohesion in societies. This substitution renounces the objectives concerning social justice, fails to face the tensions of increasing social inequalities and misses the contribution of social innovation and citizens’ practices that incorporate counter-hegemonic ideals as equally important to an effective multilevel governance. A bottom-link approach is suggested as a synthesis of the tension between top–down policies and bottom–up practices.
a b s t r a c tCulture and creativity make two contributions to sustainability in cities: (1) Economic impact, related to the economy and the marketing of the city, involving consumers, jobs, creative clusters, technology, mobility, infrastructures and (2) urban regeneration concerned with social cohesion, socially creative initiatives and local citizenship with sustainability objectives. We provide a critical appraisal of the first and concentrate on the second. The paper focuses on how collective actors are capable of creating new spaces for public debate and daily practices that reinforce community life and citizenship. In some cities creation of spaces for cultural creativity has been the result of 'bottom-linked' innovation. Two examples are examined in two peripheral districts of Barcelona. These are: Ateneu Popular de 9 Barris (AP9B) and Fabra i Coats. Both are currently managed by a hybrid partnership between public administration and civil society organizations. The 'bottom-linked' approach to social innovation recognizes the centrality of initiatives taken by those immediately concerned, and also stresses the need for institutions that enable and sustain such initiatives through sound, regulated and lasting practices and through clear citizen rights, guaranteed by the functioning of the democratic state (Pradel, García, & Eizaguirre, 2013).
Social innovation practices have attracted increasing attention in recent years. Especially in cities and urban areas, they have represented both a response to emerging social needs seldom addressed by declining forms of state welfare support and a platform for innovating inherited understandings of collective action and activism in cities. The authors argue that a regional perspective is needed when looking at such practices in southern European urban contexts. By looking at a variety of cases in Italian cities, this section aims to illuminate how key dimensions such as local governance models and legacies, social inclusiveness patterns, the relationship with formal and informal economies and the role of specific socio-spatial structures contribute to the shaping of social innovation practices in Italian cities.
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