Cittalia is an organization that promotes social innovation and creative ecosystems in Italian cities. It acts as a bridge between local authorities and community groups, bringing together different urban stakeholders through projects and networks. Cittalia has established the SEiSMiC network in Italy to connect social innovators and institutions. The network works to promote participatory policies and civic engagement initiatives. Challenges identified by SEiSMiC include improving public participation, community building, and developing new models of sustainable urban economies. Cittalia also analyzes and shares best practices from other innovation networks to support the growth of creative industries and professionals.

1. RAVELLO LAB 2014
PANEL 3 – Place-shaping and designing creative ecosystems to make
territories competitive
Ravello, 24 October 2014
CITTALIA
The research hub of the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI)
Gabriele Guazzo

2. • 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

3. Cittalia – Projects and services
and more...

4. 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.

5. Vision building and identification of key areas for social innovation

6. 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.

7. Challenges identified by SEiSMiC can be gathered in three main areas:
Participation, open government, communication
All the working groups highlighted the crisis of representative institutions
and the need for innovative solutions. The keywords are “accountability,
openness, interactive communication, debureaucratization of Public
Administration”.
Community building in the public space
Cities 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 economy
Co-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.

8. SEiSMiC initiatives/projects
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.

9. 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

10. Critical success factors for networks
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

11. Critical success factors to create favourable habitats for creative professionals? /1
 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

12. Critical success factors to create favourable habitats for creative professionals? /2
 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
ASSET: territories, as expression of identities,
playing a vital role in fostering the different
and the creative (strong cultural traditions
and specificities / cultural heritage)

13. 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.

14. 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 services
Develop 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 places
Create 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.

15. Absolute Do’s / 2
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 companies
Stimulation of user-driven innovation and application of results to
companies

16. 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

17. THANK YOU!
Gabriele Guazzo - Cittalia
guazzo@cittalia.it

18. KEYWORDS
generating new ideas and disruption
identify and nurture talent
understand the investment value of creative ideas
foster participatory processes

19. 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