The document outlines a research project that aims to analyze the role of the local power elite in governing Milan and the cultural models that guide Milan's development. The researcher plans to identify the power structures and shared visions of the elite through network, discourse and decision analyses. This will provide an interpretive model of Milan's governance and identify strategies for improvement. The study integrates theories on power dynamics, policy analysis and symbolic processes to understand how elite networks and meanings shape local decision-making. The results could inform urban governance practices and account for the social and political contexts that embed them.

1. The role of power elites
in the urban governance:
an analysis of cultural models
that guide the development of Milan
Mario D’Andreta
December 16, 2013

2. Outline
General purpose of the project
Research questions
Brief overview of the extant literature
Theoretical framework
Research hypothesis
Objectives
Methodology
Expected Results
Significance of this study

3. General purpose of the
project
To analyze
the role of the local power elite in the
governance of Milan
the cultural models of city development that
steer the action of the elite in this process
With the aim of
elaborating an interpretative model of the
governance process of Milan, in order to
identify effective and endogenous strategies
for its improvement

4. Research questions
How to identify effective strategies for the
improvement of the governance of Milan?
what is the role of the local elite in the local
policy making and that of the cultural
models of the development of Milan in
guiding the action of its members in this
process?
How is structured the local elite and what are
its visions of the development of Milan?

5. Status Questionis
• the strong position of Milan within the context of the
global cities network (Taylor 2004)
• the role of Milan as gateway for global flows to and
from Italy (Globus et Locus 2007)
• the ongoing debate on the issue of “glocal nature of
Milan” (Magatti et al. 2005, Globus et Locus 2013)
• the gap between the external and the internal
image of Milan (Bassetti 2010)
From the analysis of the extant literature
emerged the following information:

6. Status Questionis
• the poor development planning and governance
capacities (Dente 2005, Magatti & Sapelli 2012)
• the need for a new governance model, consistent
with the glocal role of Milan (Magatti et al. 2005)
• the central role of Milan in the evolution of relations
between economic and political power in Italy
(Sapelli 2005)
• the need of a redefinition of the concept of elite in
line with the glocal nature of Milan (Sapelli 2005)
• the role of the social capital at the disposal of power
elite in shaping urban performances (Belligni 2005)

7. Theoretical framework
• the analysis of power in local communities (Belligni 2005,
Dahl 1961, Hunter 1953, Tosi & Vitale 2011, Mills 1956)
• the interpretative perspective on public policy analysis
(Dryzek 1990, Fischer and Forester 1993, Yanow 1996)
• the analysis of the role of symbolic processes in driving
social behavior (Berger & Luckmann 1966, Farr &
Moscovici 1984, Grasso & Salvatore 1997)
• a psychological perspective on discourse analysis, focused
on the role of unconscious processes in the construction of
social meaning (Lancia 2004, Carli & Paniccia 2002)
A problem-oriented integration of the following approaches:

8. Research Hypothesis
the local elite plays a significant role in the
shaping of the development of Milan,
through direct and indirect influence on the
local decision making process
the social representations of Milan and of
its development perspectives shared by the
elite members guide their action in this
process

9. Objectives
To delineate the structure and dynamics of
the power elite of Milan
♦ single leadership or pluralistic internal dynamic?
To identify the cultural models of urban
development shared by the elite members
♦ how do they influence the local decision making?
To identify strategic lines for the improvement
of the city governance
♦ an interpretative model of the governance of
Milan

10. Methodology
Stage 1 Analysis of the power elite structure
• Positional Analysis
• Reputational Analysis
• Decisional Analysis
• Social network analysis
Stage 2 Analysis of the cultural models of urban
development shared by elite members
•Discourse Analysis

11. Stage 1- Positional Analysis
mapping of the main global flows that traverse Milan
mapping of organizations, operating within these
flows, that influence decision making in Milan
mapping of top positions in the selected organizations
(through analysis of organizational charts)
selection of a subgroup of elite members (on the
basis of an index of influence)

12. Stage 1- Reputational Analysis
Interviews with privileged observers
Analysis of the local and national press
In order to assess the reputation of local elite
members and identify their networks of
relations

13. Stage 1- Decisional Analysis
selection of some recent key events in the
development of Milan (i.e. Expo 2015) through
literature analysis and privileged observers
interviews
analysis of the decision making role of the elite
players in the selected events, through press
analysis and interviews with privileged observers
interviews on the issues under examination with
some of the key decision makers
integration of the collected data and identification of
the core group of the elite

14. Stage 1- Social Network Analysis
Analysis of the patterns of relationships among
the local elite members
Performed on relational data gathered through the
interviews with privileged observers and positional and
reputational analysis
using methods of Social Network Analysis (Hanneman
& Riddle 2005)
with the software tool UciNet

15. Stage 2- Cultural Models Analysis
Analysis of the symbolic representations of the
development of Milan shared by the elite
members
performed on a corpus of texts produced by the
members of the elite and gathered through internet
researches and local and national press, with the help
of key informants
using the methodology of Emotional Text Analysis
(Carli & Paniccia 2002), based on the lexical
correspondence analysis (Benzécri 1981) and the
psychosocial theory of collusion by Carli (1990, 1995,
2000)
with the software tool for statistical analysis T-Lab (Lancia
2004)

16. Expected results
a description of the local elite structure, consistent with
the glocal nature of Milan in terms of co-presence of local
and global players
a map of cultural models steering the vision of Milan and
its possible development paths in the local elite, clarifying
the gap between internal and external image of the city
an interpretive model of the governance of Milan and
strategic lines of its improvement, based on the shared
representations of the development perspectives of Milan
and the power relations which influence the local decision
making

17. Significance of this study
Contribution to the debate on the
practices of urban governance
with a proposal for
the improvement of the governance of Milan
focused on the
role of the local elites and the meanings they share
on the city development perspectives

18. Significance of this study
1. an interdisciplinary problem oriented approach based
on three levels of integration of the policy analysis of
Milan:
• analysis of the patterns of the power elite networks
• analysis of the shared meanings steering decision making
processes
• analysis of the process of symbolization that produces the
shared meanings
2. an action-research oriented approach, aiming to devise
endogenous strategies for the improvement of the
governance practice, from an abductive and bottom-up
perspective
Two innovative theoretical and methodological elements

19. Significance of this study
A research model that:
► is applicable to different social contexts
► may provide important operational effects in
terms of
– identification of shared models of local development
– improvement of urban governance

20. Significance of this study
A research model that:
► Helps avoid the risks of a technocratic approach
to urban governance (a model of “good governance”
valid always and everywhere, regardless of the
context), by researching its factors of
improvement within historical, social, cultural and
political forms of embeddedness of the local system

21. References
• Bassetti, P. (2010). Milano, nodo della rete globale. Cinque anni dopo. Dialoghi internazionali, n. 14, pp. 31-37
• Belligni, S. (2005). Il capitale sociale nel governo locale. Working Paper n. 6, Dipartimento di Studi Politici,
Università di Torino
• Benzécri, J.P. (1981). Pratique de l’Analyse des donne linguistique et lexicologie, Paris: Dunod
• Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality, Doubleday and Co.: Garden City, New York
• Carli, R. (1990). Il processo di collusione nelle rappresentazioni sociali, Rivista di Psicologia Clinica, 3, 282-296.
• Carli, R. (1995). Il rapporto Individuo/Contesto, Psicologia Clinica, 1 (1), 5-20.
• Carli, R. & Paniccia, R. M. (2002), L’analisi emozionale del testo. Uno strumento psicologico per leggere testi e
discorsi, Franco Angeli: Milano
• Dahl, R. A. (1961). Who governs? Democracy and power in an American city, Yale University Press: New Haven
• Dente, B. (2005). Governare l’innovazione, in Magatti, M. et al. Milano, nodo di una rete mondiale. Milano: Bruno
Mondadori
• Dryzek J.S. (1990), Discursive Democracy Politics, Policy and Political Science, Cambridge University Press:
Cambridge
• Farr, M.R. & Moscovici, S. (1984) Social representations, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge
• Fischer F. & Forester J. (eds.) (1993), The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning, Duke University
Press: Durham

22. References
• Globus et Locus (ed.). (2007). Milano globale e le sue porte. Rapporto di ricerca, Milano.
http://www.mi.camcom.it/web/guest/milano-e-le-sue-porte
• Globus et Locus (ed.). (2013). Milano smart city-region. Rapporto Rete Consultiva per Milano glocal city, Milano.
http://www.globusetlocus.org/Attivita/Progetto/Governance/Milano_Citta_Glocale_La_Rete_Consultiva.kl
• Grasso, M. & Salvatore S. (1997). Pensiero e decisionalità. Franco Angeli: Milano
• Hanneman, R.A. & Riddle, M. (2005). Introduction to social network methods. University of California Riverside: Riverside
• Hunter, F. (1953). Community power structure, N.C.: Chapel Hill
• Lancia, F. (2004). Strumenti per l’analisi dei testi Introduzione all’uso di T-LAB. Franco Angeli: Milano
• Magatti, M. & Sapelli, G. (eds.) (2012). Progetto Milano. Idee e proposte per la città di domani, Bruno Mondadori/Pearson
Italia: Milano-Torino
• Magatti, M., Senn, L., Sapelli, G., Ranci, C., manghi, B., Dente, B., Colombo, A., Ciborra, C., Ceruti, M.,Calducci, A. & Artoni,
R. (2005). Milano, nodo di una rete mondiale. Milano: Bruno Mondadori
• Mills, C. W. (1956). The power elite. New York: Oxford University Press
• Sapelli, G. (2005). La trasformazione dei rapporti tra economia e politica a Milano: sussurri e grida, in Magatti, M. et al.
Milano, nodo di una rete mondiale. Milano: Bruno Mondadori
• Taylor, P. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis, Routledge: London
• Tosi, S. & Vitale, T. (2011). Piccolo nord. Scelte pubbliche e interessi privati nell’alto milanese. Bruno Mondadori: Milano
• Yanow, D. (1996). How Does a Policy Mean? Interpreting Policy and Organizational Actions, Georgetown University Press:
Washington

23. Contacts
Thank you for your attention!
Mario D’Andreta
+39 3400700757
mario.dandreta@libero.it
mariodandreta.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/m.dandreta
twitter.com/mdandreta