ravello lab 2014 | cittalia
TRANSCRIPT
CITTALIAThe research hub of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI)
Gabriele Guazzo
RAVELLO LAB 2014
PANEL 3 – Place-shaping and designing creative ecosystems to make territories competitive
Ravello, 24 October 2014
• a multiplier of good practices at national and EU level and a node for urban innovation and urban making, active in the analysis, promotion, exchange and dissemination of innovative practices by bringing together ideas, experiences and positive approaches developed in the urban landscape(s)
• a powerhouse for innovation and a promoter of social innovators networks, comprising both institutional and non institutional players and including city officers and administrators, policy makers, experts, stakeholders, start-uppers, urban makers, architects, media, academic (multistakeholders approach)
The activities carried out by Cittalia in the field of urban creativity and social innovation rely on capitalization projects and on local initiatives that are developed mostly through EU projects and/or network initiatives. Thanks to them, Cittalia is able to bring together different urban players and social innovators, acting as a “bridge” between local authorities and other community groups. Cittalia is right in the middle, where the exchange of information, know how, experiences, takes place.
URBACT NDP / Coordinator of the SEiSMiC NaNet / Coordinator of ANCI Smart City Observatory
Cittalia – Projects and services
and more...
Cittalia has set up the SEiSMiC National Network (NaNet) in Italy by creating a network of urban makers, social innovators, mappers, communicators and institutions. The members of the network are now working together, under the coordination of Cittalia, in order to exploit the potentiality of the network and bring the Italian way to social innovation into the European urban research debate.
Participatory policies are at the core of the project and the Italian network can rely on the active participation of civil participation initiatives and organizations such as CleaNap and Angeli del Bello, or on experiences that use new technologies to map social innovation and civic engagement initiatives such as MappiNa in Naples.
Culture-based creativity plays a key role in the generation of social innovation which refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organisations which meet social needs of all kinds - from promoting new skills for new jobs, improving working conditions/workplaces and education, fostering longer and healthier life, and promoting gender equality to (sustainable) community development, fight against crime, social exclusion, to well-being improvement - and which strengthen civil society as well as social integration.
The concept can also be related to social entrepreneurship.
Sometimes it may coincide with innovation in public policy and governance.
Challenges identified by SEiSMiC can be gathered in three main areas:
Participation, open government, communicationAll the working groups highlighted the crisis of representative institutionsand the need for innovative solutions. The keywords are “accountability, openness, interactive communication, debureaucratization of Public Administration”.
Community building in the public spaceCities need more self-conscious and responsible communities, and institutions should encourage citizens to feel the city as a common good rather than a private property. All around Italy, the experiences of citizens spontaneously taking care of common goods in cities are expanding.
New models of urban sustainable economyCo-working, sharing economy, urban agriculture are just some of the many innovative practices discussed in the working groups. Moreover, new models of urban welfare are arising to face the decrease of resources devoted to traditional welfare.
1. Civic monitoring of public services.This working group explores existing practices and proposes new models of citizens’ involvement in monitoring and assessing the quality of public services in cities (e.g. mobility, welfare, waste management etc.)2. Collaborative mapping for urban transformation.A particular emphasis is devoted to the use of collaborative maps for sharing the knowledge of public spaces in cities and gathering the civic energies willing to engage in transforming them. Among the social innovations in urban transformation there are practices such as temporary use of public spaces, community gardens, social streets etc.3. Dynamic mapping of stakeholders in participatory processes.This working group carries out a research and develops pilot projects in order to experiment new methods in identifying stakeholders in decision making and participatory processes on urban matters.4. Social innovation in urban economy.The goal is to identify social innovations to face the global crisis through the re-localization of production and the diffusion of a new paradigm whose keywords are sharing, sustainability, equity. Among the practices already discussed in the inaugural meeting there are: sharing economy, co-working, urban agriculture etc.
SEiSMiC initiatives/projects
URBACT II NETWORKS: EXAMPLES OF GOOD EXPERIENCES FROM IT CITIES /1
Fostering the role of creative and cultural industries for urban growth
Encouraging artists and creative professionals to share their competencies with other sectors
Reinforcing the existing links between regional and local businesses, creative people and universities
Main outcome: Study, good practices, LAP
CREATIVE SPIN – BOLOGNA
Multistakeholders approach / Capacity to bring together different organizations and institutions and people with different backgrounds
i.e. Creative Spin: synergy between municipality of Bologna, architecture companies and designers which regenerated a street of Bologna (Via Sant’Apollinare) through a simple initiative: renovation of municipal properties in that street and allocation of these spaces in the hands of MIRA and Vicolo Pagliacorta (architectures and designers). Positive chain-effect and replication of this initiative in other neighborhoods, i.e. Piazza dei Colori which is becoming an attractive area for social activities and collaborations thanks to the settlement of creative organizations and start-ups. Participatory approach (co-decision, sharing)Openness and flexibility of the network (open to new inputs and ablr
to change)Effective sustainability models Self-feeding and capacity of the network to create sense of
identification with its specific practices through effective multidirectional communication
Combination of culture-based creativity and social innovation
Critical success factors for networks
Capacity of the city environment to (a) generate new ideas; (b) identify, retain and manage creative talents; (c) invest in creative ideas and take risks
Policy support. Policy has a crucial role to play in setting the appropriate conditions to break the “silos” between different visions and mind-sets for interdisciplinary interactions to happen and innovation to flourish. Regions and local authorities are the primary institutional partners for SMEs in the creative sector and they can foster creative networks particularly by enhancing participatory approaches at local level
Capacity of self-organization of a network and funding / financial capacity of the networks (effective business models)
Presence of cultural and creative companies and institutions as well as creative social networks
Society, which nurtures a creative ecology conducive through creativity through regulation, education and investment in technology and culture
Critical success factors to create favourable habitats for creative professionals? /1
Critical success factors to create favourable habitats for creative professionals? /2
ASSET: territories, as expression of identities, playing a vital role in fostering the different and the creative (strong cultural traditions and specificities / cultural heritage)
Presence of strong cultural institutions and operators Creative incubators and/or working and co-working spaces Existence of science parks, investment funds, creative
districts/clusters, education institutes and research centres Strong ICT sector
Critical success factors to create favourable habitats for creative professionals? /3…according to Creative Spin…
Informal urban environment and informal relations
Constant dialogue between stakeholders
Listening and comprehension of social, economic and cultural needs, trying to solve small problems through simple solutions
i.e. Youtool community which – in order to find solutions for business - launches contexts and calls that are open to the community of creative people, for example a business company producing marbles did not know how to use the leftovers without wasting them: the creative(s) used them to produce art/design pieces that will be presented and sold in Milan at Salone del Mobile in 2015.
Absolute Do’s / 1
Foster public policy governance and local development through the horizontal integration of culture in other policies related to the economy, environment, urban planning, youth and entrepreneurship, tourism, social integration, etc.
Foster Innovative products and servicesDevelop Open and collaborative models of work / organisational
models through PARTICIPATORY APPROACH (i.e. collaborative mapping, open data and other urban crowdsourcing experiences)
Activate Marketing/communication strategies to better brand companies, public organisations, or cities and regions
Innovate public services to foster communication and trust with citizens or increasing participation of marginalised groups.
Set up an environment conducive to innovation that further attracts creative talents, new investors but also visitors (soft location factor)
Be open and available to develop new images and attractive placesCreate the conditions for the rise of a “creative class” through the
setting up of multidisciplinary education programmes or the clustering of companies making an area attractive for living and work.
Practical examples of “DO’s” activities- Workshops/seminars to stimulate or incubate new ideas- Open calls for innovative ideas and meeting with investors- Training programmes for artists to consult companies on creativity and
direct artistic interventions in companies/workplaces- Multidisciplinary teams working on specific assignments (e.g. to solve
problems of small companies)- Clustering of companies to promote together creativity/design as a tool
for innovation- Training programmes on the application of design in companiesStimulation of user-driven innovation and application of results to companies
Absolute Do’s / 2
Absolute Dont’s
For creative people:- Don’t expect others to activate a creative network and to let you in: do it yourself!- Don’t rely only on institutions / public authorities for permanent funding,
but look for public funding only in the start-up phase then create your own business model!
- Don’t isolate yourself but always look for multifaceted connections through a multi-stakeholders’ approach
For cities/local authorities:- Do not be closed to changes, open yourself and provide citizens with new
spaces and opportunities of interaction- Don’t be silly, you need to empower citizens and foster societal engagement- Don’t be too sectoral: life is more complicated, the new economy too. Look
for interactions and collaboration also between different admin departments in order to mainstream culture
- Don’t be reticent to engage with other businesses and commercial interests
generating new ideas and disruption
identify and nurture talent
understand the investment value of creative ideas
foster participatory processes
KEYWORDS
URBACT II NETWORKS: EXAMPLES OF GOOD EXPERIENCES FROM IT CITIES /2
GENIUS OPEN – SIRACUSA (PILOT-NETWORK)Promoting open innovation
through the use of the model adopted in York
Regenerating a deprived neighbourhood (Mazzarrona) involving residents and children
Launching online challenges to enable the exchange of views among residents