Based on more than 30 case studies in eight different countries, this book explores the governance dynamics of local social innovations in the field of poverty reduction. The diverse team of contributors reflects on the trajectory of social innovation in European governance. They illustrate how different governance dynamics and welfare mixes enable or hinder poverty reduction strategies and analyse how such dynamics involve a diversity of actors, instruments and resources at different spatial scales. The contributions are based on research motivated by the standstill in the fight against poverty in Europe and the anxiety that conventional macro-social policies are insufficient to deal with the current challenges.

The importance of subnational welfare measures, and their complex embeddedness in wider multilevel governance systems, has often been underplayed in both urban studies and social policy analysis. This Handbook gives readers the analytical tools to understand urban social policies in context, and bridges the gap in research.

This book explores how the State can play a role as an enabler of citizens-led social innovations, to accelerate the shift to sustainable and socially just lifestyles. To meet the twin challenges of environmental degradation and the rise of inequalities, societal transformation is urgent. Most theories of social change focus either on the role of the State, on the magic of the market, or on the power of technological innovation. This book explores instead how local communities, given the freedom to experiment, can design solutions that can have a transformative impact. Change cannot rely only on central ordering by government, nor on corporations suddenly acting as responsible citizens. Societal transformation, at the speed and scope required, also should be based on the reconstitution of social capital, and on new forms of democracy emerging from collective action at the local level. The State matters of course, for the provision of both public services and of social protection, and to discipline the market, but it should also act as an enabler of citizen-led experimentation, and it should set up an institutional apparatus to ensure that collective learning spreads across jurisdictions. Corporations themselves can ensure that society taps the full potential of citizens-led social innovations: they can put their know-how, their access to finance, and their control of logistical chains in the service of such innovations, rather than focusing on shaping consumers’ tastes or even adapting to consumers’ shifting expectations. With this aim in mind, this book provides empirical evidence of how social innovations, typically developed within "niches", initially at a relatively small scale, can have society-wide impacts. It also examines the nature of the activism deployed by social innovators, and the emergence of a "do-it-yourself" form of democracy. This book will appeal to all those interested in driving societal change and social innovation to ensure a sustainable and socially just future for all.

This book addresses the key question of why socially innovative initiatives, including attempts to rejuvenate democracy by introducing new modes of participation, are not leading to a democratization of the State or overcoming the gap between political leaders and people. Offering insights from three leading voices of contemporary social sciences to address the failures of contemporary democracies, the book explores the potentialities of progressive socio-political agendas, strategies, and movements seeking to overcome these failures.

The book aims to face the challenge of post-COVID-19 dynamics toward green and digital transition, between metropolitan and return to villages’ perspectives. It presents a multi-disciplinary scientific debate on the new frontiers of strategic and spatial planning, economic programs and decision support tools, within the urban–rural areas networks and the metropolitan cities. The book focuses on six topics: inner and marginalized areas local development to re-balance territorial inequalities; knowledge and innovation ecosystem for urban regeneration and resilience; metropolitan cities and territorial dynamics; rules, governance, economy, society; green buildings, post-carbon city and ecosystem services; infrastructures and spatial information systems; cultural heritage: conservation, enhancement and management. In addition, the book hosts a Special Section: Rhegion United Nations 2020-2030. The book will benefit all researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in the issues applied to metropolitan cities and marginal areas.

In recent years, the term social innovation, or SI, has entered mainstream policy discourse; broadly construed, SI refers to pioneering, effective solutions to social problems that benefit society at large rather than individuals. This book explores the full meaning of SI and what it offers to people analyzing social policy, including the origins and background of the concept, the reasons for its rise to prominence, and the ways it has thus far been applied. Does it actually represent a significant departure in theory or practice, or is it merely a rhetorical change? Simone Baglioni and Stephen Sinclair offer here a rich analysis of the concept that will enable practitioners to reach informed conclusions.