Problems and purposes
The project objectives recall the strategic priorities of the new Administration, highlighting (Link 1 - project):
- To the participatory practices foreseen in the strategic planning;
- To the enhancement of the local entrepreneurial fabric active in the 2030 think tank;
- To the cultural theme - Palermo Capital of Culture 2018, UNESCO, Arab-Norman Palermo, Biennial of contemporary art “Manifesta” 2018;
- To interventions to contrast social marginality and housing emergency;
- To the social and economic role of excellent and basic sport in the urban fabric.
25 participation initiatives will involve citizens, businesses, PA and the entire network of local actors.
They will be followed by web and social communication and by training activities aimed at PA employees on the design, implementation and evaluation of participatory processes.
The project was born following the publication of the "Guidelines for the participation of citizens in the choices of the Administration" (resolution of GC n. 25 of 25/02/2015) which systematized the participation activities carried out by the Municipality of Palermo in several projects over the last few years.
History and geography
Leoluca Orlando, a well-known Italian politician and parliamentarian, was already mayor of Palermo from 1985 to 1990 (Democrazia Cristiana), from 1993 to 1997 and from 1997 to 2000 (as national leader and founder of "La Rete", supported by PDS, PRC and Verdi). After two legislatures (led by the center-right) he returns to apply and win abundantly in 2012 (with Italia dei Valori of which he was also national coordinator and the support of Verdi and Federation of the Left) and in 2017 (under the symbol of the PD with the support of Popular Alternative, the Italian Left and the Communist Refoundation). Since 2012 the Orlando Council with the Councilor for Participation and decentralization prof. Giusto Catania invests heavily in democratic innovations [1].
The first experiences - The ETMs (Electronic Town Meetings) of 2014 and the Guidelines on participation . 5 events are organized with the Electronic Town Meeting method; on the basis of the experiences made, the consultancy of the Region of Tuscany is used, which sends an official and the electronic equipment. The cure is by NEXT, Clac and Easy. The 5 ETMs launch a path to promote participation on strategic issues for the present and the immediate future of the city (Link 1 - ETM). The themes of the Town Meetings are: 1) pedestrianization; 2) quality of services offered by the districts and decentralized positions; 3) recovery of the coast; 4) separate collection in newly identified areas; 5) master plan. The second of the 5 events, organized on 5/4/2014 is dedicated to the theme of administrative decentralization [2], therefore how institutions and participation in decisions are experienced. The results - given the strong requests for decentralization and participation - will then be taken over by the Executive to draft the Guidelines on participation (Municipality, 2015a) and create an intersectoral working group for the governance of participation [3], thus following up the positive feedback from the experimentation and satisfaction with the tools used. The Guidelines highlight the new political needs in the premises: "The need for participation originates from the limits of parliamentary and representative democracy, from the insufficiency of listening and inclusion moments beyond the electoral moments, and therefore from the need for forms of democracy more inclusive and effectively more representative in public decisions by the institutions. Furthermore, the consolidated models of bilateral concertation, on formal and informal tables, between a few and heavy consolidated actors or public assemblies, and often ritual with respect to the outcome of the decision-making process , they reveal their limits more and more. Citizens no longer necessarily recognize themselves in the traditional social partners and de-legitimizes their work "(Comune, 2015a, p. 2-3). Although there are fears regarding excessive requests for participation that may cause administrative times to be drastically extended as well as the risk of undermining the role of technicians and elected representatives [...] "it is necessary to assimilate the concept that new approaches and new decision-making tools on the other hand, they can, on the contrary, and with some basic conditions, help reduce times and improve the quality of decisions with advantages for the various subjects involved; but for this to be possible it is necessary to create an organizational structure that scientifically manages the participatory processes and prevents the risks of improvised participation "(Ib., p. 3). The 18-page document therefore provides definitions, approaches, the conditions for the development of an effective participatory process, actors and tools and the ideal structuring of paths (Ib.).
The project was born following the Guidelines of February 2015, nevertheless it was inaugurated with a press conference by the mayor, only on 3 October 2017 [4], once the electoral office was renewed. The tender had to be awaited. Throughout 2016 and early 2017, in the meantime, other participatory projects have been developed such as the City Laboratory on the themes of the Master Plan and education in collaboration with each district and with schools. The beginning of 2017 was also an election campaign period.
The tender for the implementation of the integrated participation-communication project (deadline 24/8/2016).
According to the councilor Catania, "the need to reorganize and reprogram the activities of 'participation' arises from the consideration that the experiences carried out in previous years represent an example of a participatory process practiced, and fully carried out, in the city of Palermo, in the same way as other listening processes, from which it is necessary to start again with a structured path that takes into account the acquired heritage ”(Link 2). A tender is therefore published to make the development of participation paths structural with an auction base amount of 228,000 Euros (excluding VAT) with funds made available from the sums transferred from the Sicily Region (Link 2).
“It is an important moment that determines transfers of sovereignty with respect to the decision-making processes of the city. We started from scratch: the municipal administration of Palermo had never activated participation paths and its bureaucratic machine was not used to planning and promoting participation activities. In the last three years, experimental activities have been developed, created moments of participation through Electronic Town Meetings, thematic forums, city assemblies, activation of consultations. In recent years, training processes have been activated for municipal staff who, more and more, have acquired the culture of participation. This announcement, using regional funds, will activate a stable process that will allow the city to benefit from a standardized and structured process that will make Palermo more and more protagonists of administrative decisions ”(Link 2).
An element that we want to introduce is that of communication as an element at the service of participation, not only on individual activities, but as an integrated strategy of the entire path. The contract provides for two macro actions related to each other: on the one hand, the successful tenderer must ensure a structured and integrated path of initiatives aimed at implementing practices, processes and tools of participatory democracy by presenting a proposal that provides for the discussion of at least two issues for each strategic area of mandate (at least 10 topics in total), which the subject will deem congruous and in line with all the strategic objectives of the Administration. The implementation of the participatory path will be monitored by the 'Governance Group' of the participation, which will carry out training for the successful bidder. "In order to deal with the proposed topics, the successful bidder must submit a design proposal on the participatory techniques used for each topic dealt with, which takes into account the participation tools, referred to in the GC resolution no. 25/2015, specified in Annex A, of which at least three with non-codified techniques and precisely: - Sectoral and multi-stakeholder forums; - Working groups / workshops / thematic laboratories; - Brainstorming; - Focus group; - Neighborhood walks; - Participatory Swot Analysis; and at least one with coded techniques and precisely: - Electronic Town Meeting; - Planning for Real. The design of an innovative participation tool is also required, with reference to the discussion of a minimum of two proposed topics, in line with the objectives to be achieved, indicating in detail all the operations envisaged and the different methodologies used "(Link 2) . “All the tools will have to be developed taking into account the following preparatory activities: context analysis; promotion of information activities and involvement of the local population through telematic tools / dedicated web pages and anything else designed by the proponent; selection of participants; elaboration of information material for participants and printing of the same; decision and attribution of the set of topics related to the aforementioned topics; invitations and verification of registrations; indication of the places where the participatory events will take place and relative rental and set-up; return of results activity. The participation tools proposed (except the innovative one) must be implemented taking into account the minimum requirements described for each tool within the participation guidelines (Link 2). “The second macro action consists in the planning and implementation of a communication campaign at the service of participation that takes into account communication not only for each single action, but which is structured throughout the entire process. Communication in line with the content of the activities and consistent with the tools used. The communication campaign must contain innovative elements capable of hitting a broad target in the reference area, using typical ICT tools "(Link 2).
The persons in charge selected will be a group of design and communication companies, 2 of them are the leaders and they were also in the Town Meetings (NEXT and Clac); to these are added FPA, Lattanzio and Centro Studi Opera Don Calabria (Link 1).
The 5 objectives (already described above in the chapter Problems and Aims) of the project are part of the strategic priorities of the mandate and will be developed in 25 participatory initiatives / activities with a wide deployment of tools.
The title of the selected project, Partecip @ tives , is to be attributed to the project group (Link 1).
Promoters and lenders
Municipality of Palermo, Giunta, Intersectoral working group for the governance of participation made up of C. Guercio, sector manager, area manager, head of participation. This figure takes care of and supervises all governance activities of participatory policies, supports the political body, analyzes and activates interventions on the subject, evaluates the proposals of other public and private partners, deals with the assignment of tasks and monitoring of the activities of external collaborators, manages the cross-sectoral group Governance of the Stake, manages strategic planning activities, etc. In addition to the sector manager, the delegates of the technical and administrative services responsible for the issues addressed by the process are part of the Participation Governance group. The Municipality is the sole financier of the project with the tender for the assignment for an amount of 228,000 Euros (excluding VAT), obtained from the provision of regional funds.
Following a call for tenders in August 2016 (Link 2), a project group organized as RTI (Temporary Business Network) is selected.
NEXT - Nuove Energie X il Territorio - is a Palermo-based company that deals with research in social sciences (welfare, health, hardship), local development, impact assessment of public policies, research-action and training. From what emerges from the launch press conference, it seems that it is the lead partner and his partner Simone Lucido, the main contact person of the group.
FPA SrL (Forum Public Administration) is a Rome-based company that deals with research, accompaniment to organizational change, communication and training that is aimed at central and local public administrations and digital technology suppliers interested in change and innovation paths in the PA .
Clac is a Palermo-based company that deals with design, event organization, marketing, engagement, public relations.
Lattanzio Communication is one of the 7 branches of Lattanzio Group SpA with offices in Milan, Rome and Bari. It deals with communication of programs financed with European funds, institutional communication and visibility campaigns.
Centro Studi Opera Don Calabria is a training institution on welfare issues in Verona, an emanation of the Opera Don Calabria charity institute in Rome.
Selection of participants
Sharitories - Palermo Intraprende and Arab-Norman Palermo are meetings open to all with the presence of one or two assessors, the director of the sector, the business coach of Ouishare Italy, a facilitator of Ouishare, experts (prof. Of sociology of the environment Uni Palermo), a research manager of FPA. It was necessary to register before the online meeting and some very broad categories of actors (eg civil society and territorial communities, companies and economic operators, local administrations, networks of experts, etc.) had been identified and invited (it is not specified how). The two workshops that were held at the Ecomuseo del Mare in Palermo consisted of two working days, weekdays, from 12:00 to 19:00. A total of 40 people participated, including a class of the Technical Institute for Tourism . The links to download the reports of the meetings do not work (Link 1 - Materials and Press, ril., 27/2/18).
Game design workshops . These are meetings organized for young participants (high school students, two workshops at the Ecomuseo del Mare, one at Liceo Einstein and another at Umberto I). In the first two workshops held on the same day in September at the Ecomuseum 23 young people participated, but the way in which they were contacted is not reported. In the laboratory at the Liceo Einstein, 58 students participated, while in the last one there were 32. Also in these cases the organization and invitation methods were not noted. At the meetings, in addition to the U'Game facilitator, experts, academics and teachers were present for introductory interventions on the subject of the game (presumably, from the photos and videos). A final workshop is scheduled to be held on 8 March 2018 (ril., 27/2/18).
Brainstorming . 4 brainstorming sessions took place with about 20 participants on average (from 13 minimum to 25 maximum). The invitation was placed on the site and automatically on the social channels, and for some (sports facilities and tourism) a poster was produced. Key actors on the themes were invited. The meetings were facilitated by S. Lucido of NEXT. The videos uploaded online concern partial excerpts or short individual interviews at the end of the meeting on the topics and the lived experience. The reports do not return the composition of the participants except in a generic way.
Neighborhood walks . At the moment (ril., 27/2/18) 3 walks have been organized in the neighborhoods: San Giovanni Apostolo, Kalsa, Maredolce. In the first, in addition to the notice on the site, a poster was produced, inviting residents of municipal-owned homes and providing for the participation of welfare actors, the president and vice-president of the VI district and a municipal councilor. Participants will be 18. In the second appointment, "led by citizens", no posters were found, some councilors and the president of the 1st district, a municipal employee of the participation area, a couple of representatives of associations and a group of residents, for a total of 15 participants. On the walk to Maredolce, the report regrets the absence of representatives of the Superintendency and UNESCO. The participants are 16 among which (see video) a French researcher and an Australian architect professor who present their point of view on cultural heritage and the necessary care related to accessibility, custody, cleaning and landscape protection. (Link 1 - Materials and Press).
Thematic workshops . The first workshop was requested by the Councilor for educational policies Giovanna Marano on "forced marriages". 12 people participated, representatives of educational institutions, workers from anti-violence centers, public and private organizations involved in welcoming and integrating migrants. They were all women apart from a member of the Pakistani community. The meeting was facilitated by S. Lucido. On January 9, the second meeting was announced which should have taken place on 12/1 but there is no response, neither in the reports (Link 1 - Materials and Press) nor in the news (Link 1 - News).
In addition, a thematic workshop was held, the first of a planned series of 4 meetings, dedicated to the housing issue. It involved stakeholders representing the Municipal Administration, trade unions, committees and associations that deal with issues related to housing policies in Palermo, with a total of 9 participants. A second meeting was held on 7 February, of which there are no reports and a third will be held on 28 February. The meetings are promoted with notices on the site and preliminary online registration. Posters were produced (Ib.).
Multi-actor sectoral forum online . Participation in the forums - announced by the website - was open to everyone upon online registration. In the first online forum dedicated to urban green spaces, 20 active participants were involved, in 46 interactions. The final webinar was introduced by Marina Bassi of FPA and facilitated by Angelica Agnello, director of the Coop. Ortocapovolto, which also conducted the entire online process. Within the webinar there was an intervention on urban green, by the architect. Seamstress, sea and coast technical manager of the Municipality and of the three proposers of the selected projects. The second forum dedicated to the enhancement of the cultural offer hosted 95 participants on the platform (including the students of the Urban Planning Laboratory of the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo, coordinated by A. Alessandro Badami and a contribution from Prof. Carta) in 25 interactions (Link 1 - Materials and Press). The forum was coordinated by the architect. Valentina Mandalari, member of the Board of Directors of the Ecomuseo del Mare. In the final restitution webinar, as scheduled, the interventions of Giovanna Stagno of FPA, and of the 4 proposers of the selected projects were held (Ib.).
The project is still in progress (ril., 27/2/18).
Methods and Tools
Participatory Gaming Laboratories is an idea from 2015, managed by U'Game (there is no information on this partner who should be a Clac collaborator). Participants are invited to carry out recreational activities based on theoretical reflections. In the case in question, they were invited to take a path in the dark, to demonstrate that moving in the urban space is not the same for everyone and that it is therefore also necessary to question the difficulties of people with disabilities who run many more risks in moving. The second game, Palermo Express, focused on orientation skills. The activity addressed the issue of orientation in urban space, shedding light on the importance of its role as a fundamental aspect of mobility. The workshop allowed the direct awareness of the participants and created the opportunity to collect game proposals on the theme of mobility which, appropriately modified and adapted, will become part of a very broad and articulated urban game that will see the participation of citizens at the end of the Partecip @ ttivi project. On this occasion, a series of missions aimed at facilitating interaction with the city will be proposed to the participating citizens. The playful aspect frames the process that will guarantee the consequentiality between the proposals expressed in the Muoviti Fermo participation workshop and the urban game. In addition to the theme of mobility, some game design workshops will cover the themes of administrative simplification and liveability, finally guaranteeing a very large set of game tests (Link 1 - Logbook, 21/9/17).
Sharitories Workshop and Toolkit for collaborative territories . Developed by Ouishare, they are born thanks to the support of the main financing partner Forum PA. Sharitories workshops are generally divided into eight main phases: choosing a thematic focus for each table; identification of challenges; choice of sector experts; reading and studying the booklet; Card time! We work on opportunities (collaborative economy) and strengths (already present); identification of priorities; identification of difficulties; pitch time - communication of results to everyone;
Multi-actor sectoral forum online . The online discussion activities - in the case in question - took place through the "knowledge sharing and networking" platform designed by FPA for the creation and animation of communities of practice. The platform is configured as a virtual environment that can host different work groups, each dedicated to a specific theme. Alongside classic tools, such as written discussions, starting from proposal cards, tools such as webinars were used.
Brainstorming . Brainstorming, literally "brainstorm", consists of a group work mode, in a focus group style, therefore conducted by a facilitator, in which the creative game of the association of ideas is exploited: the purpose, in fact, is to make emerge different possible alternatives in view of the solution of a problem (Link 1).
Neighborhood walks . They are itinerant inspections led by facilitators, technicians, administrators in which, with the participants, you get into the real situation; they stimulate shared observations, narratives and context-driven learning.
Focus group . Classic group discussion tool, provides optimal participation of 12-14 people and expert facilitation. It can be aimed at the rapid retrieval of information while maintaining a high degree of flexibility of study and investigation in the event that something unexpected emerges, such as the shared definition of situations or phenomena.
SWOT analysis . It is a tool widely used in group discussions, in which positive and negative aspects are inserted in a double entry table with respect to the endogenous and exogenous context of an activity, a phenomenon. Each box takes the title of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Thematic workshops. These are tables focused on targeted themes, very similar to focus groups and multi-actor tables. The participants are qualified and privileged witnesses. The discussion is guided by sharing the definition of the problem faced, its manifestations and the formulation of possible intervention measures.
Electronic Town Meeting is the descendant of the Town Meeting which took place in New England (USA) in the 17th century. With the use of information technology, the activity was transformed into a sort of interactive survey in real time. It is an event that generally involves from a hundred people to several hundred, in round tables of 8 participants with a facilitator and a recorder. Each table discusses on the basis of a question communicated by the general facilitator who is on a stage and / or a big screen. This is important because the questions are not administered individually and each participant - albeit briefly - has the opportunity to discuss their experience and point of view with others. Each session requires the verbalizers' computers to send the interventions of the tables in real time to the table of the theme team (made up of several expert and neutral operators), which classifies them and uses them to reformulate the questions and answers to be presented to everyone, through the general facilitator and the big screen. At this point the participants can select, on a mini-keyboard, the answer they prefer and after a minute or two, see the overall results. The sessions are repeated on various questions and at the end an instant report is delivered to all participants.
Deliberation, decisions and interaction with the public
The project includes 25 involvement activities through 9 methodological paths, which flow into a single communication site. Alongside the site, 3 social media channels (FB, Twitter and Instagram) accompany the news, posters, promotional postcards, a project presentation sheet and a monthly newsletter with the activity report were produced (Link 1 - Materials and Press).
19/09/2017 - Game design - The first path started - before the press conference - is the game design (or gaming) workshop "Muoviti Fermo", curated by U'Game, in which a group of young people on the urban mobility in case of disability. The game design method was first presented, with the techniques to develop and propose games and an in-depth study on the themes of mobility and sustainable mobility. The first game was about mobility in conditions of disability and the second about orientation. This workshop was aimed at collecting game proposals on the theme of mobility which will then be adapted for the final game at the end of the entire path with the involvement of the citizens. The participants were therefore involved in two example games:
- A journey in the dark. Teams were formed and a winding path with chairs was prepared; a blindfolded team member had to cross the path being guided by voice by the other team members. Whenever the blindfolded player had touched the edge of the course he had to stay still for 5 seconds before restarting. The winner is the one who took the least time to complete the stretch.
- Palermo Express. In plenary, a member of the team is called to the stage and is secretly communicated a starting point and an arrival point. The route must be described without using street names but only the name of the place of departure and what can be seen. The members of each team write on a piece of paper the route described with the arrival point. Whoever gets closest to it wins.
3/10/2017 - Launch press conference - The project was launched with the press conference of the mayor L. Orlando, the curator S. Lucido of NEXT and other managers, in the splendid Palazzo delle Aquile, seat of the Municipality.
5/10 and 12/10/2017 - Neighborhood walks - The first two neighborhood walks took place in a suburban neighborhood, San Giovanni Apostolo and in the very central one of Kalsa. In the first case, the focus was on social housing and in the second, in addition to this theme, the question of traffic restrictions was added. The participants in the first case, in the presence of the administrators, expressed the problems of the individual buildings and the need for a stable ecological island to discourage the abandonment of bulky waste, while they appreciated the tram. In the second case, in addition to the problems related to buildings owned by the municipality, attention was paid to the ZTL (limited traffic area), the pedestrian area and the parking lots. As there was no involvement of the residents, a failure to comply with the prohibitions of the area limits was generated. There are numerous reports (abandonment of waste, insufficient maintenance, vandalized empty apartment, sewage leaking from sewer pipes, etc. (Link 1 - Materials and Press).
13/10/2017 - Sharitories - Toolkit for collaborative territories . This event is divided into two workshops on: 1) Arab-Norman Palermo and 2) Palermo Intraprende. The main topic of the discussion was the methodologies of use of collaborative economy models with a view to promoting tourism. Each table identified the greatest challenges, then hypothesizing all the possible collaborative solutions through the tools of Sharitories. Among the challenges identified, those related to services for tourism, catering and social eating, transport and mobility, accessibility and sharing. Car and bike sharing, open data, crowdfunding, tools libraries, local energies and urban gardens among the solutions proposed by the four work tables. The second meeting focused on the role of entrepreneurship in Palermo and the collaborative economy tools that can be used in this sense. Also on this occasion the main challenges of the case were identified, linked above all to the issue of infrastructures, bureaucratic practices, funding, and accessibility to foreign markets. The two workshops generated a full understanding of the characteristics of the collaborative economy and how it is possible to adapt them to the tourism and business models of Palermo, also by focusing attention and highlighting the strengths and opportunities already present in the urban territory. Reports are available as well as some video sequences and photo galleries (Link 1 - Materials and Press).
17/10/2017 - Brainstorming - Right to study. The first meeting dealt with the concept of 'integration', declining it as a middle term, between the worst of assimilation and the positive one of interaction, in a perspective of limits but also of "usability spaces, typical of the different operational contingencies" ( 17/10 Report - Link 1, Materials and Press). "Access to knowledge, the possibility of creating new knowledge and putting it into circulation among operators, institutions and projects has been highlighted as one of the necessary conditions for defining quality interventions that do not limit themselves to taking for granted the nature of the problems and solutions "(Ib.). "The quality of public nursery schools is fundamental for activating integration logics and is linked to the territorial dimension of the neighborhood" (Ib.). “Today the question is mostly addressed by asking projects to demonstrate their sustainability over time and by soliciting the dimension of innovation; probably, the same effort must be made by the Institutions which should equip themselves, first of all from an operational and bureaucratic point of view, in supporting projects by creating sensible and stable frameworks ”(Ib.). The value of operational devices such as the home education service, school mediation, considered very useful practices in connecting schools, families and services, was underlined. In general, it is a question of optimizing resources by connecting the offers that still dot the territory (of course, if you look at this node, the topic of what "resources" are cannot be taken for granted if you do not want to repeat arguments by now. exhausted). In this perspective, schools must become more and more principals of the territory and, therefore, capable of projecting themselves beyond their own borders; which poses many problems from an operational, bureaucratic and organizational point of view "(Ib.).
26/10/2017 - Brainstorming - Sports facilities . The problems of sport of excellence are not comparable to those of sport practiced daily in the various city facilities, which are often in highly critical conditions (Report 26/10 - Link 1, Materials and Press). This is why an investment is considered a priority not only on existing structures (eg: Fondo Patti, whose redevelopment has stopped since 2008), many of which require substantial interventions, but also on the construction of new plants, given that many neighborhoods are completely devoid of (Ib.). It also addresses the issue "of barriers and fences, which must begin to be removed, so as to reduce aggression and make sports spaces, including the stadium, become places that are easily frequented by families and children, also in terms of entertainment" ( Ib.). This is followed by ideas on new sports disciplines, and access to sport for the disabled, to new professions and to the employment opportunities that sport generates (Ib.).
6/11 and 7/11/2017 - Game design . In the two laboratories in the high schools, the focus was on the development of new games to be proposed for the final playful event that will close the overall project. After the initial frontal explanations, the groups of students worked together with game designers and municipal technicians: in the first laboratory, sketching 9 game proposals, 2 of which, after a vote, were eligible for the final urban game; in the second, producing 7 game cards of which 2 are always eligible (Link 1 - Materials and Press).
02/12/2017 - Walk in the Maredolce district . The walk went into the places most affected by the theme of the enhancement of cultural heritage and the UNESCO sites, which present various problems of maintenance, surveillance and adequate signage. There are abandoned structures today owned by the municipality, confiscated from the mafia. There is a lack of adequate street furniture and its correct positioning when existing. The routes, which tourists should take, are uncomfortable, dangerous, and poorly marked. The walk continues, noting bulky abandoned waste, badly parked cars that hinder pedestrian mobility, illegal buildings that ruin the context of the Castle of Maredolce; the isolation of neighborhoods due to road infrastructure, but also the headquarters of associations operating in the neighborhood. Despite the absence of the cultural heritage authorities (Superintendence and UNESCO), “in general it emerged that the district has undergone significant improvements in recent years linked to the greater accessibility offered by the tram line. Now, however, it is necessary to systematize the interventions carried out and those planned, accompanying the residents on a path towards awareness and care of the historical-environmental heritage of their city ”(Link 1 - Materials and Press).
04/12/17 and 12/01/2018 - Thematic workshop - Childhood and adolescence . The issue of 'forced marriages' involving young women who are still girls was addressed at the Councilor's requests. "This is a phenomenon that concerns foreign communities, but which can also be configured in peculiar autochthonous social contexts, for example, where the practice of the so-called" fuitina "is still found which, in some cases, can be considered a local declination of forced marriage "(Link 1 - Materials and Press).
"In the professional experience of the teachers and school managers present at the discussion, the phenomenon that is detected has to do with the temporary removal of girls (but also of boys) from school, for a trip to the country of origin from which they return later having contracted the marriage. As a school principal said, "My child brides, but also the boys, go, sign and come back" (Ib.). We illustrate the case and the activities of the teachers and the Anti-violence Centers, and find cultural mediators willing to work in such situations given the strong pressures of the communities of origin. In conclusion, "the need for in-depth work with the communities that dot the city area [...] was amply emphasized, as was the call to deepen the theme of denied rights in schools". “A widespread and profound knowledge on the part of teachers and operators of the cultures of the communities is needed: not so much and not only knowledge of the cultures of origin, but knowledge of what those cultures become in contact with the cultures of arrival” (Ib.). From this point of view, it is a question of constructing operational devices which, in mutual contact, allow mutual recognition and discussion of the elements which, on the other hand, are indispensable in the light of the constitutional provision (Ib.). The representative of the Pakistani community underlined how in the perspective of those who welcome there is a tendency to confuse traditions linked to specific geographical contexts of origin with religious precepts or general cultural traits while it is a question of phenomena that can be generalized to the entire national community. After all, as one of the school principals who participated in the discussion argued, the meeting of civilizations, in a perspective of real symmetry, serves to remove a bit of dust from our home too: we start talking about child brides and yes he also ends up speaking of “fuitina” (Ib.).
14/12/2017 - Brainstorming - Tourism of excellence . In recent years, the Administration has adopted a strategy aimed at producing an excess of demand through the construction of a new image of the city and the concentration of important initiatives, of which the creation of the UNESCO Route is a first step followed by Manifesta 12 and the appointment of Palermo as Italian Capital of Culture 2018, to contribute to the economic growth of the city. The participants, despite admitting the improvement of the general context compared to the past, continue to encounter various problems: finding information is very complicated for a tourist, especially if he does not speak our language; professional and competent figures are not used. One solution, for example, could be to create agreements with the University to have skills at reduced costs. Traditional players in the tourism sector are in competition, not very cooperative and not very innovative. The Administration should begin to dialogue with the most innovative players who are emerging in the tourism market and who are more willing to network. To increase the average stay of tourists so as to allow them to also get to know places considered peripheral and perhaps not included in traditional tourist circuits. This is followed by indications and proposals on the accessibility of tourist sites and the positioning of the Palermo airport with the airlines, and the idea of a public-private agency to start a more open and continuous comparison between the two sectors. The occasion of brainstorming succeeded in making operators dialogue with the public sector in a constructive way and provided a methodological example to increase the synergies between these roles (Link 1 - Materials and Press).
From 20/11 to 21/12/2017 - Live Palermo online forum . The FPA platform was used for online dialogue regarding public parks. The participants, also following the stimuli of municipal technicians and actors active on the subject, developed the theme over a month over four phases. In the first phase they were invited to explore the historic green and propose small improvements to enhance it. On the uncultivated green, they were invited to propose problems and new areas to be revived. Another topic concerned the large park of the Favorita, infested with illegal landfills, and finally the issue of the redevelopment of the South Coast. After in-depth analysis and discussions on the critical issues, 9 detailed proposals were drawn up which will be sent to the administration (eg "Unire non divide" it concerns "two historicized roads that connect Mondello to Palermo crossing the park of the favorita. Which serve only for this and not as braces to bypass other roads and not as a place of prostitution" or "The Oreto is not just a polluted and forgotten river. The Oreto is an opportunity for employment; a new possible green lung, fundamental for our health; a pole of tourist attraction; a place where one day you can play sports or simply relax - see Report of 11/1/18, p . 8 - Link 1, Materials and Press).
24/01/2018 - Brainstorming Quality of living . This brainstorming was preparatory to the continuation of a broad and accurate reflection aimed at resolving the housing issue, which will continue in 4 further thematic laboratory meetings. Participants were asked not to enter into the merits of the issues but to summarize the main issues and key points from which to start to improve the situation. Many actors complain that in a historical context of hardship and depletion of public resources, the only possible scenario seems to be the incentive for self-recovery. Citizens who cannot buy or rent a property "could in fact make their own manpower available, set up self-recovery groups and, helped by the Administration to identify the properties to be recovered, with technical support for putting safety of the same, could trigger virtuous processes that would solve more problems: the procurement of home goods; the availability of new jobs and the recovery of entire urban residential pockets ”(Report of 24/1 - Link 1, Materials and Press). However, this scenario has several bureaucratic and operational implications. An emergency situation is being created for the growing homeless and occupiers. The proposals: 1) to structure a multi-authority direction with universities and actors for a quantitative and qualitative census of living in Palermo. We do not have the data of citizens without fixed accommodation as well as the consistency of the current and potential public real estate assets and the economic availability in the municipal budget. 2) Addressing the housing emergency with short-term actions so that extraordinary situations do not become normality. 3) The quality of housing and its management, maintenance, possibility of self-recovery, census of the heritage to be restored, the building for young and old, must be addressed. 4) Make decisions about occupations that have lasted for decades.
31/01/2018 - Thematic laboratory Housing emergency . The brainstorming proposals (see above) have become the topics of study of the 4 workshops. The first therefore addressed the question of coordinating the actors on the subject of the house. The following thematic issues were developed: 1. Mapping institutional actors who have a title on the housing stock and actors who have proposals on their use; 2. classification of the various types of usable assets; 3. operating methods of the direction. At the moment there is an Observatory for the housing emergency of the Municipality which, however, does not respond adequately to the needs and should be revitalized. Furthermore, greater involvement of the authorities is needed, on the first level of direction, which hold the ownership and regulatory authority on the buildings (municipal and regional bodies such as the IACP). A third level of direction should mobilize for emergencies, and involve private actors, charities, trade unions, in line with the principle of social and not individual responsibility called into question by the right to housing. Direction must therefore have two functions: one of administrative coordination and one of policy implementation, coordinating institutions and actors (Report of 31/01/18 - Link 1, Materials and Press).
From 15/1/18 to 14/02/2018 - Forum on line - Strengthening the cultural offer . The theme concerned the management of common goods regarding the processes of assignment, temporariness, economy and forms of management of spaces for culture (Report of 15/02/18 - Link 1, Materials and Press). The issues that emerged: actors (eg social cooperatives) do not find an adequate seat due to the difficulty of understanding the assignment procedures, and due to the difficulty of consulting the list of municipal properties; artistic workshops that interact with the private sector and find temporary solutions; associations that successfully manage municipal property assets obtained after winning public tenders; a municipal cinema run by associations to keep the quality of the cultural offer high. We then moved on to the critical issues: difficulty of survival of cultural enterprises, poor accessibility of data relating to municipal real estate, lack of clarity about the assignment procedures, lack of adequate web interface, absence of a plan for implementing cultural processes, lack of an efficient information system consistent with the cultural offer. In the third phase, proposals were divided into sections: a) spaces / a.1) activation of a technical discussion table in the Sala de Seta, etc .; a.2) European Youth Center: Create the first European Youth Center of the Council of Europe in Italy. Create a home for young people from Palermo able to open up to European challenges; b) tools / b.1) Interactive Cities: improving urban governance with new digital skills; b.2) OPF (Open Public Funds), an online portal for the dissemination of timely information on open tenders, the receipt of proposals and the timely publication of the results. Finally, there was a return of the work done through a webinar of which the full version is available.
Latest scheduled events . Almost all the events that will conclude the long multi-channel path of Partecip @ ttivi have already been announced: 2 online forums on School and Sport that will start on February 26, the third appointment of the thematic laboratory on living will be held on February 28 and 4 U'Game participatory game days will begin on March 8th. The ETM on creating positive effects for employment, the SWOT analysis on how to make the city safer and the 4 focus groups on transparency and corruption, taxation and effective taxation, make the city more ecological, democratic and welcoming are missing and increase the visibility and economic attractiveness of the city (ril., 27/2/18).
Employee training A part of the activity is dedicated to the transfer of knowledge and skills to the employees of the administration that are useful for the success of the project and its sustainability over time. The training activities will accompany the institutional representatives involved in the initiative in the design, implementation and evaluation of participatory processes. The online pages are accessible only with PA credentials (Link 1 - Employee training).
Influence, results and effects
At the moment the process is not finished and has not yet produced tangible results. The effect on the involvement of the participants requires a field survey or in any case carried out with remote interviews, because many of the subjects and actors involved can be quite easily traced. It would be interesting to grasp the visibility and propagation that the process has obtained and the overall participation given that the most active citizens tend to take part in several issues. The presence of the project in the media was not monitored so it is difficult to provide further notes regarding its influence at the moment.
Analysis and lessons learned
The numerous paths seem focused and productive, even if they appear to generate a lack of representation with respect to the general public; moments of expanded verification, with more quantitative tools, are absent. The cost of the project of 228,000 Euros is not publicly declared on the trial website but you have to search among various documents on the municipality website. It corresponds to the auction base and therefore it is not yet certain how much the cost of the project is. For the rest, transparency is lacking, in some cases, on the aspects related to the recruitment of participants and, in all cases, the advertising of the events appears minimal, moreover the links to the reports of the Sharitories do not work. The inclusiveness of community members belonging to different cultures, abilities and opportunities (home emergency and occupants) is very low. Given the issues addressed, we have remained very formal and institutional, we have not gone into the deep outreach, apart from the cases of the walks, which have only touched upon the communities of residents as well as the thematic laboratory on forced marriages that has involved a member of the Pakistani community who is called out of the question. Also on the urban and sporting issues, the members of foreign communities and the handicapped do not seem sufficiently involved. On the issues of entrepreneurship, here too, different actors (see the low number of participants in the Sharitories) and authorities seem absent (see walk on UNESCO sites). These impressions are strengthened when no type of conflict emerges between actors or between participants in general, if not foreseeable complaints against the administration; this denotes an important defective component that prefers not to waste time because it thinks that nothing will happen that will affect it or that it will be able to intervene anyway later, to block or hinder. In such cases, the authorities should solicit participation with direct and incisive public communications addressed to strong actors, to those with privileges / acquired rights who could feel threatened by the outcomes of participatory processes. Just as we should address directly to subjects in a state of deprivation or stigmatized, who will have to get involved sooner or later, if they care about a convenient solution to their problems, instead of hiding and having them represented by others, without a mandate. It is difficult, but it is necessary to stimulate a representation of the unknown communities, of the occupiers (eg), directly, with a field work financed by the administration, also in this case, without going through the other actors involved in the laboratory. They may have detected the problem but cannot substitute the representation of the subjects they describe. Before proceeding in the planning of interventions it is essential to include everyone, especially the subjects of the interventions, therefore it is essential to create actors from socially disorganized, latent, elusive or weak situations, and then include them in the processes. However, all this can happen more easily if a multi-thematic participatory process like this one had been prepared by a preliminary phase of sharing the path with the various urban actors, active and less active, which did not occur.
Resolutions
Municipality of Palermo (2015a), Guidelines, Regulation of citizen participation in the choices of the Administration, 25/2> https://www.comune.palermo.it/js/server/uploads/_25022015154914.pdf (ril., 26/2/18).
Municipality of Palermo (2015b), Del. GC n. 25 of 25/2.
Link
- Municipality of Palermo - Partecip @ ttivi - Confrontation that multiplies ideas> https://www.etmpalermo.it (ril., 26/2/18).
- Municipality of Palermo - Participation - Call for tenders for the design and implementation of an integrated participation and communication project> https://www.comune.palermo.it/noticext.php?cat=1&id=10750 (ril., 26 / 2/28).
Note
[1] The 2012 mandate program could not be found.
[2] Municipality of Palermo, ETM Palermo, Instant report, 5/4/2014, https://etmpalermo.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/instant-report-decentramento.pdf (ril., 26/2 / 18).
[3] Municipality of Palermo, Citizen participation in the choices of the Administration, 25/2/2015> https://www.comune.palermo.it/noticext.php?cat=1&id=6635 (ril., 26/2 / 18).
[4] Municipality of Palermo, Project launch press conference, 3/10/17> https://www.etmpalermo.it/2017/10/03/con ferenza-stampa-avvio-progetto-3-ottobre-2017/ (ril ., 27/2/18).