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Seminar Iolanda Bianchi (USI) 'A common-based approach to urban policy making: Comparing Bologna, Barcelona and Ghent'

  • University of Antwerp, S.KS.204 13 Prinsstraat Antwerpen, Vlaams Gewest, 2000 Belgium (kaart)

Public policies enabling citizens to self-manage resources and services have unevenly proliferated across European cities over the last few years. Some of these policies, especially those concerning the management of vacant urban spaces and buildings, are directly inspired by the notion of commons, such as the Regulation for the Care and Regeneration of Urban Commons adopted by the Bologna City Council in 2014 and the Citizen Assets Programme implemented by the Barcelona City Council from 2017. Other policies are represented by those fostering housing cooperatives, energy communities or childcare cooperatives. Despite the diversity of policy sectors, as well as of policy design and implementation mechanisms, all these policies show the development of a new trend in urban policy-making in which local governments support citizens in self-managing urban resources and services.

The implementation of a common-based approach to urban policy-making implies specific democratic, political, social and administrative challenges: To what extent can this approach democratize urban governance and the policy process? How is the public interest ensured when granting communities the right and capacity to self-manage public services and resources? How can collaborative relationships be built between communities and public institutions when these relationships are characterised by power imbalances? How do national and EU procurement laws based on competitive tendering affect grant procedures?

In this seminar, Iolanda Bianchi will present the Marie Skłodowska-Curie SoE research project "COMMOCRACY". The project analyses the democratic, political, social and administrative challenges of the adoption of a common-based approach to urban policy-making. The research uses a qualitative-interpretative research methodology based on a three-case comparative study, namely Bologna (Regulation for the care and regeneration of the urban commons), Barcelona (Citizen Assets Programme) and Ghent (Commons Transition Plan). In the seminar, the preliminary results of the Barcelona case will be presented and discussed.

Further information: Seminars and workshops | Urban Studies Institute | University of Antwerp (uantwerpen.be)