EUARENAS: A Luiss and LabGov project received a (new) Horizon2020 funding
by Tommaso Dumontel
Luiss is the recipient of European funding under the Horizon 2020 program (call H2020-SC6-GOVERNANCE-2018-2019-2020 (GOVERNANCE FOR THE FUTURE), for their project as a partner in “EU.ARENA.S – Cities as Arenas of Political Innovation in the Strengthening of Deliberative and Participatory Democracy”.
The project aims to experiment in different European cities (Reggio Emilia, Gdansk, Budapest and Voru) with new forms of participatory governance that will transform cities into real laboratories for European citizenship. A transdisciplinary combination of law, business & policy competencies, which is a fundamental component to stimulate the creation of new forms of economic participation and democratization, lies at the heart of the project. The Luiss’ research unit will contribute to different Work Packages and will lead the WP that will be dedicated to the definition of the work methodologies for the pilot projects in the above mentioned four cities, the WP that will create new legal and public policy instruments functional to the pilot projects and the WP dedicated to the measurement of the impact. Furthermore, two of the involved cities (Reggio Emilia and Gdansk) are already actively collaborating in engaged research’ projects in which Luiss LabGov.City is involved in: the “Reggio Emilia Collaboratory”, QUA – Quartiere Bene Comune (Neighborhood as a commons), and the Urbact transfer network “Civic eState”.
Technological and digital tools are widely understood as key assets for sustainable and inclusive urban development. The city of Reggio Emilia (Italy) put in place a policy strategy aimed at developing an inclusive, collaborative, creative city by relying on the enabling features of digital tools and infrastructures. The Tech and the city approach adopted and experimented by the city government in Reggio Emilia builds on the most advanced theories on urban co-governance, the city as a commons, or “co-cities” theory. The City as a Commons approach is based on the cooperation of public, private, knowledge, social and civic actors (the so-called quintuple helix), established and regulated through public-community and public-private-community partnerships agreements enabling sustainable innovations and scientific experimentations in the city. This approach entails a strong focus on the valorization of local know-how and the recognition of community stewardship rights (rights of use, co-management, co-ownership) over urban critical assets and infrastructure, the so-called urban commons. These two elements are considered key ingredients to trigger inclusive urban sustainable development, especially in deprived neighborhoods.
The “neighborhood as a commons” program was the first policy tool forged to implement this approach and initiated in 2015 neighborhood labs as co-design moments that take place in neighborhood social centers to define urban innovation projects with the actors of the neighborhood. The aim is to close at the end of the co-design process citizenships pacts that set terms, conditions, investments to device the sustainable innovation projects. Within the neighborhood as a commons program, Reggio Emilia has used a scientific methodology to put in place a wide variety of community-based urban innovation and experimentation projects both in the historical center and in the more peripheral neighborhoods of the city. The most successful one is the Coviolo Wireless initiative which has successfully developed broadband infrastructures in an underserved neighborhood, extending broadband access to city inhabitants, and providing social and economic development opportunities by turning the neighborhood community centers into hotspots and managers of the digital infrastructure.
Luiss team is coordinated by Christian Iaione (Director of the MSc in Law, Digital Innovation and Sustainability, LabGov.City co-director and Luiss BILL Executive Director) and Luca Giustiniano (Director of the Master in Global Management and Politics and Luiss Clio Director).
Director of the MSc in Law, Digital Innovation and Sustainability”, co-director of LabGov.City and vice-director of BILL)
Director of the MSc in Global Management and Politics and director of the CLIO – Center for research on Leadership, Innovation and Organisation
The team is also composed by Elena De Nictolis (Adjunct Professor and Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, LUISS University, LabGov.city program), Alessandro Piperno (Researcher at Luiss Guido Carli University and LabGov.City), and Alessandro Antonelli ( Teaching Assistant at Luiss Guido Carli University). Federica Muzi, Tommaso Dumontel, and Alessandro Ciro Cimmino (students and members of LabGov’s team) collaborate on the project.
EUARENAS: Luiss and LabGov win (new) Horizon2020 funding
On January 21st at 10:00 am the first Kick-off meeting of EUARENAS – Cities as Arenas of Political Innovation in the Strengthening of Deliberative and Participatory Democracy was held. On this day, the objectives of EUARENAS were examined and then the objective of each work package was analyzed. The day ended at 17:00. On January 22nd, always at 10:00 am, the second day of the Kick-off meeting began. On this day the other WPS were analyzed focusing on their objectives. The day ended at 17:00, in the final part of the meeting any problems and needs were taken into consideration.
Kick-off meeting di EUARENAS
Luiss has been awarded prestigious European funding under the EU Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation on the call H2020-SC6-GOVERNANCE-2018-2019-2020 (GOVERNANCE FOR THE FUTURE) with the project “EU-ARENA. S Cities as Arenas of Political Innovation in the Strengthening of Deliberative and Participatory Democracy”.
The aim of the project is to experiment in different European cities (Reggio Emilia, Gdansk, Budapest and Voru) new forms of democratic participation that can transform cities into real laboratories of European citizenship. The project approach is based on the combination of law, business & policy skills necessary to stimulate and combine the emergence of forms of democratic participation and economic democracy.
The Luiss research unit will contribute to various Work Packages and will be the leader of the work package that will define the working methods of the pilot projects in the four cities, of the one dedicated to forging new legal and public policy instruments serving these pilot projects and, finally, of the one dedicated to impact measurement. In addition, two of the cities involved, Reggio Emilia and Gdansk, are cities that already actively collaborate with research projects in which the Luiss LabGov.City team is involved, such as “Collaboratorio Reggio Emilia” and QUA- Quartiere Bene Comune in Reggio Emilia and the Urbact transfer network “Civic eState” in the case of Gdansk.
Digital tools are considered fundamental elements for sustainable and inclusive urban development. The city of Reggio Emilia has launched a strategy that aims to develop an inclusive, supportive and creative city through digital tools and infrastructures. The “Tech and the City” approach is based on the most advanced theories of co-governance, in particular on the model of co-cities developed by LabGov.City which sees cities as common goods. This approach sees the collaboration of public, private, knowledge, and civic (organized and non-organized) actors as a fundamental requirement for the management of urban resources. This type of collaboration is called the quintuple helix model. This approach also focuses on the enhancement of local know-how and the recognition of communities as key beneficiaries and managers of urban resources.
The “neighborhood as a commons” program was the first policy tool to put the co-city approach into practice. The goal is to develop real citizen pacts with the aim of creating policy, legal and economic tools in order to create projects that are both sustainable and innovative. One of the most important projects to mention is the “Coviolo Wireless initiative” which has led to the creation of broadband infrastructure in a disadvantaged neighborhood ensuring an internet connection to citizens and has also provided opportunities for development through the direct management of citizens of this infrastructure.
The Luiss team is coordinated by Christian Iaione (Director of the Master’s Degree Programme in Law, Digital Innovation and Sustainability”, co-director of LabGov.City and deputy director of BILL) and Luca Giustiniano (director of the Master’s Degree Course in Global Management and Politics and director of CLIO – Center for research on Leadership, Innovation and Organisation),
The research team will be composed of: Elena De Nictolis (associate professor and post-doctoral researcher at the department of political science at Luiss Giudo Carli University), Alessandro Piperno (researcher at Luiss Guido Carli University and LabGov.City), Alessandro Antonelli (teaching assistant at Luiss Guido Carli University). Federica Muzi, Tommaso Dumontel and Alessandro Ciro Cimmino (members of the LabGov team) will collaborate on the project.