95335 - PARTECIPAZIONE, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT E DEMOCRAZIA URBANA

Learning outcomes

The students will acquire a theoretical and methodological knowledge to analyze and understand the participatory phenomenon, taking into account the cultural processes and social transformations that underlie it, also in reference to some critical dimensions such as conflict, the relationship between the everyday and public dimension, the relationship between top-down and bottom-up processes in the perspective of urban democracy; will be able to read the emerging forms of participation and civic engagement, with particular regard to the theme of urban commons, cultural co-production practices, new forms of collaborative governance nowadays experimented in various cities around the world.

Course contents

The first part of the course will introduce a framework of analysis of the participatory phenomenon, with attention to the different social and cultural dynamics that underlie it and that help to understand the emergence of new forms of participation and practice of citizenship. Within this framework, particular attention will be paid to the encounter between top down and bottom up participatory practices, to forms of civic engagement and their relationship with the generation of the public sphere, as well as the emergence of forms of collaborative governance capable of stimulating processes of social innovation.

In the second part of the course, the conceptual framework will be related to various case studies and empirical researches in different fields: local participatory processes promoted by public administrations, the regeneration of urban commons within the framework of shared administration, but also of the commoning "from below", the activation of community spaces and spaces for cultural co-production and intercultural welfare, and finally in the context of practices of solidarity and social resilience also supported by the use of digital media in the current context of crisis. In some lessons, it is expected to involve significant witnesses with respect to the practices or research presented.

Both in the first and in the second part of the course, a reflection will also be encouraged in relation to different tensions that the practices investigated pose (for example: their relationship with the dimension of the conflict) and on the role that practitioners and researcher from the field of social sciences can assume in facilitating collaborative processes and urban democracy.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Paltrinieri R., Allegrini G., (2020), Partecipazione, processi di immaginazione civica e sfera pubblica. I Laboratori di quartiere e il Bilancio partecipativo a Bologna, FrancoAngeli, Milano: cap. 1, 2., cap. 3 (no paragraphs 3.3.1., 3.3.2.; 3.5.3.) cap. 4. (no paragraph 4.2.).

2. Faccioli F. (2013), Comunicazione, sfere pubbliche e processi di civic engagement, in Bartoletti R., Faccioli F. (a cura di), Comunicazione e civic engagement, FrancoAngeli, Milano, pp. 174-200 (no paragraph 2.).

The student has to choose one of the following texts on some of the cases presented in the course (other references will be provided during the lessons based on the interest shown by the students):

1. Allegrini G., (2020), Partecipazione, spazi e pratiche di costruzione di comunità in Paltrinieri R. (a cura di), Culture e pratiche di partecipazione. Collaborazione civica rigenerazione urbana e costruzione di comunità; pp.15-39.

2. Allegrini G., Innovazione sociale, responsabilità sociale condivisa e pratiche di cittadinanza: il progetto “Salus W Space, in Paltrinieri (a cura di), Culture e pratiche di partecipazione. Collaborazione civica rigenerazione urbana e costruzione di comunità, pp. 138-159.

3. Bartoletti R., Faccioli F. (2020), Public engagement e pratiche partecipative: una mappatura della collaborazione civica a Bologna in Paltrinieri (a cura di), Culture e pratiche di partecipazione. Collaborazione civica rigenerazione urbana e costruzione di comunità, pp. 55-66; (2020), Civic Collaboration and Urban Commons. Citizen’s Voices on a Public Engagement Experience in an Italian City, in «Partecipazione e conflitto» Issue 13(2), pp.1132-1151;

4. Pellegrino V. (2013), Coltivare la capacità di rappresentare il futuro. Un’indagine su nuove pratiche di confronto pubblico, in«Im@go, Rivista di studi sociali sull'immaginario», anno II, n. 2, pp. 112-142; Pellegrini V. (2020), La partecipazione civico-politica e le istituzioni di oggi: riflessioni sui processi partecipativi "ambivalenti", in Paltrinieri (a cura di), Culture e pratiche di partecipazione. Collaborazione civica rigenerazione urbana e costruzione di comunità, pp.40-54.

Teaching methods

The course is structured in lessons of two hours each, combing lectures with moments of discussion with the students, in some lessons also with the participation of external guests.

Assessment methods

Individual oral interview based on the reference texts and on the slides used during the course, aimed at evaluating both the learning of the contents and his/her ability to rework and argue. The ability to connect the theoretical part and the practices and cases presented will also be particularly taken in consideration during the evaluation. Attendance at the course will be valued.

In addition to the basic references, other texts must be chosen among those indicated, as well as others possibly indicated by the teacher based on the interest expressed by the student, useful for deepening the topics covered through a case study.

Teaching tools

Ppt presentations will be prepared and shared in the virtual platform as a support in the study of the texts indicated in the bibliography

Office hours

See the website of Giulia Allegrini