Speaker
Description
Despite decades of debate, policies, efforts and funding dedicated to territorial cohesion within the EU, the quest for ‘development’ in long-term lagging regions is still an ongoing and largely open dilemma; a dilemma that has become even more dramatic due to the changing socio-ecological dynamics as well as the neoliberal evolution of society, economics, and politics.
This paper contributes to the very long-term debate on planning for development in lagging regions in the EU, drawing from research conducted on Sicily (Saija & Li Destri 2022), arguing the need to reconceptualize the relationship between institutions and civil society in order to develop effective development strategies.
For years planning scholars have debated on the importance of looking at planning as an endeavor engaging not just institutional decision-makers supported by trained professionals, but also the civil society (Friedmann 2011). In this perspective, the relationship between civil society and institutions has been explored through a great variety of interpretive frameworks, mostly located within a spectrum that goes from harsh conflict to peaceful collaboration. Overall, such a large body of planning literature suggests that there is not an ideal type of desirable, effective, or productive civics-institution relationship. What is not predefined might depend on each context's unique characteristics, evolve over time, and encompass the full spectrum of possibilities in response to specific circumstances. In other words, while planning scholarship has focused on the nature and the desired characteristics of the relationship, and on how the two nodes – institutions on the one side and civic society on the other – should/can/shouldn’t relate with each other, less attention has been dedicated to the specific traits – if any – that characterize each of the nodes so that they can establish a fruitful relationship with each other, whatever fruitful might mean in a certain context.
The search for those traits can draw from the work of the Italian philosopher Roberto Esposito (2019), whose concept of instituting paradigm pushes planning scholars to ask (Li Destri & Saija 2023): what are the traits of an instituting civics, namely a civil society that is likely to collect, organize, and express collective demands that can be strategically used to push institutions and pursue development in the face of the contemporary socio-ecological crisis? How are these traits developed?
To explore these questions, we discuss some preliminary findings of the PRIN research project Resisting: Reconnecting Social Innovation with Institutions in Urban Planning funded as a PRIN by the Italian Ministry for Research, which investigates the dynamics of civic action and instituting processes across three Italian regions, from north to south: Piedmont, Veneto, and Sicily.
In this contribution, we focus on Sicily, examining the distinctive characteristics of a variety of civic organizations, in search for instituting traits. Analysis of data collected through archival research and qualitative methods (mapping and interviews) has shown significant differences between ‘instituting’ capacities by, on one end, well-established third-sector organizations operating primarily as service providers and, on the other, grassroots insurgent initiatives. The paper argues the importance of advancing our understanding of these differences as a crucial element that should help identify effective and more equitable development strategies.
References
Esposito, R. (2019). Pensiero istituente: Tre paradigmi di ontologia politica. Torino: Einaudi
Friedmann, J. (2011). Insurgencies: Essays in Planning Theory. Taylor & Francis.
Saija L., Li Destri Nicosia G. (2022). Per un possibilismo dell'agency collettiva nel Mezzogiorno: riflessioni su due "casi esemplari" a rischio. In Tulumello S. (ed) Verso una geografia del cambiamento. Saggi per un dialogo con Alberto Tulumello, dal Mezzogiorno al Mediterraneo. MIM edizioni srl, p. 153-163
Li Destri Nicosia, G., & Saija, L. (2023). Planning as an instituting process. Overcoming Agamben’s despair using Esposito’s political ontology. Planning Theory, 14730952231209755.
| Keywords | civic organizations, planning for development, EU lagging regions |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
