Repositioning the public in the social innovation debate : reflections from the field

In urban studies, social innovation mainly means voluntary, non-statutory, citizen-led, or community-led initiatives implemented to respond to unmet or new social needs. Social innovation has been applied to many urban regenerations and territorial development initiatives, but in many cases overestimated its potential to come up with progressive solutions alone without the support of public action. In the paper, by critically discussing the case of the Simeto area in Sicily, we claim a shift from the concept of social innovation to the one of public innovation, and we assume social innovation as a social and territorial construct that requires to be mobilised ad hoc within particular spatial and institutional settings. From a strategic planning perspective, this process should involve the creation of trading zones, boundary objects, and agonist democracy, allowing specific and context-based interactions among community-based initiatives and institutions at different levels.