The Urban Commons as an

Innovative Form of Public

Management
The experience in Bologna (Italy): 2014 – Present

Carlos Molina Requerey (S5086896)

Università degli Studi di Genova
VALUTAZIONE DELLE POLITICHE PUBBLICHE
Index

1- Initial problems and motivation for change.

2- Social, political and economic context of the case study.

3- Theoretical framework of innovation.

4- Legal framework, objectives and values of the project.

5- Development of the experience.

6- Results of the experience.

7- Evaluation of the experience and impact at the international level.

8- Barcelona: The Bolognese equivalent in Spain

9- Final reflections.

10- References
 1. Initial problems and motivation for change
The emergence of the New Public Management as a new paradigm of Public
Management and its extension from the 80s meant an important change in the
bureaucratic local government structures, which began to introduce its characteristics.
At the same time, in recent years the idea of governance at the municipal level has
been notably strengthened through the so-called public policy networks. Somehow
there is a fusion between both paradigms.
General characteristics of the NPM
- Focus on results and performance improvement.
- Insistence on coordination and coherence.
- Insistence on accountability or responsibility.
- Effectiveness and efficiency
Governance
This concept highlights the participation and the necessary interaction that must exist
between the Public Administration and civil society. Thus, it can be considered as a set
of mechanisms that guide the policy-making process, built by networks or frameworks
of public policy with public and private actors that replace the traditional models called
monocentric or intergovernmental.
The sum of these two factors led to a governance model in which the political-
administrator entity leaned towards public-private pacts for the provision of services
to citizens. These are the so-called PPPs or Public-Private partnerships.
Based on the ideas of “The future is Public: a special report from Amsterdam” (2020),
The focus on the economic efficiency of PPPs produces unrest among citizens after the
economic crisis of 2008, when the limitations of outsourcing in the hands of private
entities are exposed both in terms of equity and accountability in the provision of
goods and services.
In recent years, a series of projects have emerged that propose an alternative to this
trend: The "deprivatization". These new models propose to take back private property
in public hands as a way to redirect societies and provide quality public services for all
citizens. This time the focus is on public-civic alliances or pacts, “filing” the aspects of
New Public Management absorbed by the Governance paradigm.
The Commons
The civic-public pacts have been held in Bologna since 2014 mainly within the
framework of the commons. However, this concept has undergone over time, an
evolution regarding its political meaning:
At first, the idea of self-management of resources by citizens was present in the idea of
communes in the sense of enclosures. In them, it was a question of replacing the State
as a form of political organization and administrator of the political community. It is,
for example, the Paris Commune of 1871.
Around the 90s, especially after the publication of the book “Governing the Commons”
(1990), the author Ostrom redefined this concept and focused it on the commons. It
was proposed as a response to the “tragedy of the commons” and shows community
participation as the most efficient way to manage common goods and as a
complementary way to management by the State.
The Commons Transition
It is situated within the recent innovation of the governance of the commons
described. The term Commons Transition refers to a pragmatic vision of the commons
that seeks a concrete social change through them. This idea continues to be located
within the limits of the State, and also taking into account the market as an active
actor in the provision of goods and services.
Through this process led by the commons, various transitions such as energy, urban
planning or food can be achieved towards more sustainable models. This is the model
applied in Bologna. It is in fact the experience in this city that has given rise to the
diffusion of the term within the framework of the Shared Governance or Collaborative
Governance of the Commons approach.

2. Social, political and economic context

It is vital to give some brushstrokes of the social and political context of Bologna to
understand why it has been a place of innovation in terms of the implementation of a
governance model through the commons:
High social capital: it is the variable that measures social collaboration between the
human collective. It is based on four sources: affection, mutual trust, effective norms,
and social media. In the case of northern Italy, and following the ideas of Putnam in his
work "Making Democracy Work" (1994), it has always had greater social activity and
trust among citizens, which makes it easier to establish forms of horizontal
governance, like this innovation.
"Red Bologna": the socialist political tradition has played a vital role in the cultural
construction of Italy. The avant-garde role of the communist parties together with the
rejection of the market as a mechanism for the distribution of resources and economic
planning support have been present in the life of Bologna and its vestiges are still being
seen. Communist governments followed one another in Bologna from the 1950s to the
1980s, combining the wealth of rapid industrialization with innovations in social
welfare (Bianchi, 2018).
Participatory political culture: In the case of Italy, citizens have been exposed to a
great culture of politics since the life of Ancient Rome and its "cives" have shown
interest in it (Sani.G, 1993). Furthermore, Bologna in particular has been favoured
since the mid-20th century by the institution of direct participation as a fundamental
aspect of the political life of the city, based on decentralized systems at the
neighbourhood level.
Favorable economic conditions: to these factors, we add, finally, the existence of a
favorable economic context that facilitates innovation in public management. Despite
the fact that Italy is not the country with the highest GDP in Europe, it is possible to
appreciate a higher index of wealth in the north of the country compared to the south,
as well as a lower level of unemployment. This, in general terms, translates into more
material and temporal resources for citizens in order to participate.

3. Theoretical framework of innovation

What is the concept of commons applied in Bologna?
The commons are conceived as decision-making structures and citizen political action
that do not replace the state and the market (traditional view of the commons) but
rather complement it in the provision of goods and services for citizens. The urban
commons are defined in the Regulation of collaboration between citizens and the city
detailed below as the “tangible, intangible and digital goods that citizens and the
administration through participatory and deliberative processes recognize as
functional for individual and collective well-being. "
What is the objective sought with this transformation in public management?
Through the structure of experimentation that they generate, the commons can be a
space where new institutional and economic relationships can be born. These
interactions are based on the idea of cooperation, sharing, self-empowerment,
collaboration, and coordination among peers (Foster and Iaione, 2015). In short, a way
of having the knowledge, creativity and resources that citizens and other social actors
can contribute to the well-being of the city as a whole.

Scheme that exemplifies the partnership model (stakeholders) followed in

the design of the governance of the commons in Bologna. Labgov was the
organization that developed this idea and ended up constituting an
international network for collaborative research and public policy
development in the area of the commons.

Image source: LagGov City website.

 The project in Bologna gave rise to the subsequent theorization of the model
developed. Bauwens and Onzia, through the Strategic Plan of the Transition of the
Commons for the city of Ghent (2017), reproduced the relational structure of Bologna.
In this design, the central axis of the structure is the support relationship established
between the local government and the group of people who participate in the
initiatives that the citizens have proposed with the help of the City Lab (public policy
laboratory), who acts as an intermediary for the proposals and as a technical advisor. It
is also vitally important to establish coalitions of diverse actors in each community so
that the different projects that are the object of a pact or agreement between the
citizens and the local government (central axis of the governance structure) can be
carried out effectively.

The city as
coordinator/facilitator
Partnership agreements/pacts

City Commons-Lab Coalition in support

of the commons
Measures and supports
proposals

Common-oriented citizen
Compose for
initiatives
actors:

Public, privates
and from the
Source: own elaboration from Bauwens and Onzia (2017). civil society

4. Legal framework, objectives and values

Subsidiarity principle in the Italian Constitution introduced in 2003 (article 118 CI):
establishes that “the State, Regions, Metropolitan Cities, Provinces and Town Councils
favor the autonomous initiative of citizens, individuals and associates for the
development of activities of general interest, based on the principle of subsidiarity. "
This concept is interpreted as the principle that allows citizens the autonomous and
direct solution of problems that affect the community, with the support and
integration in this process of the public administration (Bianchi, 2018).
Development of this principle through the Regulation on collaboration between
citizens and the city for the care and regeneration of urban commons (Comune di
Bologna, 2014). It is about the materialization of the principle of subsidiarity at the
local level, generating a framework for its application.
Values and general principles in collaboration established in the Regulation (Sec. 3 of
the Regulation)
Mutual trust: In the joint pursuit of the general interest
Advertising and transparency: In the opportunities, in the proposals received, in the
forms of help assigned, in the decisions made, in the results and in the evaluations
made
Inclusiveness and openness: Allowing any citizen or interested citizen to join an
activity at any time
Proportionality and responsibility: A shared responsibility between the Administration
and the public
Adequacy and sustainability: The Administration must ensure that collaboration with
citizens does not cause greater costs than benefits
Informality and citizen autonomy: In areas that are not explicitly regulated by law,
flexibility and simplicity in the relationship with citizens must be ensured.

5. Development of the experience

The process of preparing proposals and collaboration [the text in quotation marks in
this section belongs to the consolidated text of the Regulation, 2015]
1- Collaborative proposal made by “active citizens”, “individually or in association, in
some way gathered in a social formation, as well as people with an entrepreneurial
disposition or a social vocation”. The administration can also suggest collaborative
proposals (catalytic administration with an active role), however, these have come
almost exclusively from the citizens.
2- Prior evaluation by the municipal government to establish whether or not it is in
"harmony with public and private interests." If it passes this phase, the proposal is
estimated by the closest government structure, usually at the neighbourhood level,
which is in charge of evaluating and approving it after a period in which it is made
public to “collect useful observations for evaluation by all interested parties”.
3- If the proposal is approved, the group of citizens is invited to participate in a "co-
design process" with the public administration in which the proposal is developed,
refined and evaluated in terms of compatibility and support.
4- Carrying out the project. The pacts (normally between 2 and 12 months) are
constituted as the “instruments through which the City Council and active citizens
agree on everything necessary in order to carry out the interventions”. This pact
(temporary collaboration pact) establishes the objective, the duration and the form of
financing and material support that the administration must provide. Citizens cannot
be paid, since, as the regulation states, the activity is carried out “personally,
spontaneously and without payment”. The support of the public administration is
established in the terms of "assistance in planning, procedural facilities, free access to
municipal spaces, provision of raw materials and equipment, financial reimbursement,
relief and release of local taxes, and visibility."
5- Report on the activities carried out by citizens with responsibilities and possible
extension of the pact. As the regulation establishes, citizens must "report the activities
carried out and give an account of them" to the administration in order to evaluate the
results of the intervention and with a view to a possible renewal of the pact.
+400 Collaboration agreements carried out (data from the end of 2018), 14,000,
Citizens have participated in some way (voting for projects or direct involvement in a
project), 60% Interventions related to the care and rehabilitation of abandoned
buildings and squares

6. Results of the experience

Urban transformation as a result of the measures adopted:
Bologna has become an ecosystem of social collaboration. The city is no longer seen as
a mere territorial unit that corresponds to an inventory of resources administered by a
series of politicians and bureaucrats. Instead, the Bologna administration has
encouraged the creation of collaborative communities formed by a large part of the
structural fabric of the population (citizens, businessmen, neighbourhood
associations ...) with the aim of working together to carry out a more effective
common and social management of available resources. In some ways it has reversed
to some extent the effects of urban degradation and privatization that have occurred
significantly since the 1990s.
How has the relationship between public administration and citizens changed?
The relationship between citizens and public administration has undergone a great
transformation. The administration no longer only sees itself as a “managing body”,
but now envisions a greater awareness regarding the common management of
resources. This awareness has led to initiatives of all kinds being promoted in the city.
From the launch of a “crowdfunding” by the civilian population to finance those
projects that the city cannot afford, to the use of little-used public infrastructures for
the construction of a multi-charity center.

7. Evaluation of the experience and impact at the international

level.
7.1. Evaluation of the experience
Positive aspects:
As can be seen, this type of common management initiatives arouse the interest and
proactivity of citizens, who in this way feel involved in the development of their city.
Consequently, the production of services by the administration satisfies the needs of
the citizens to a greater extent (since they have been in charge of shaping the
established measures). Therefore, this situation in which both the administration and
the citizenry converge in the production of services is rationally beneficial for both.
On the one hand, the administration has the creative and logistical support of the
population, since many freelancers and entrepreneurs provide their premises to carry
out numerous initiatives, which promotes a greater sense of community. In addition,
the administration improves its image and reputation with the public.
On the other hand, citizens are assured that their direct involvement in resource
management will translate into more efficient and satisfactory services from a social
point of view. With all this, the result is a citizenry that is more satisfied with the
development of urban life and an administration that has greater support and backing.
Negative aspects:
While it is true that the proposed regulation is very promising and has already
produced great results in the city, it also has some negative aspects. The main
drawback of this project is that it cannot eliminate the fact that public management is
a top-down process. This means that there is still a long way to go to transform
management into a bottom-up process, where citizens have a greater presence and
impact, since the city council continues to have significant veto power in the face of
projects that are develop, being able to limit these only to those who are "in harmony"
with both public and private interests in the city.
 Finally, in legal terms, it is true that the allocation of responsibilities could be diffuse.
The coercive participation on the part of the administration and the citizens makes
discerning who has greater responsibility in certain areas or projects becomes a much
more complicated task. Therefore, the creation of a common legal framework that
correctly regulates the relationship between the two is a challenge.

7.2. Impact at the international level

In 2015, and after successfully implementing the Civil Collaboration Regulation to
jointly manage the urban area of Bologna, the Italian city hosted the international
conference “City as Commons”, promoted by LabGov, which brought together more
than 200 experts and academics in the field of study of collaborative governance of the
commons. This conference marked a before and after for the city, as it served as a
showcase to show the progress made to everyone. In fact, such was the success of civil
partnership regulation that many other cities in Italy jumped on the boat of joint
governance. This phenomenon was called the “Co-Bologna” process, whereby cities
such as Naples, Rome and Milan began to implement regulations very similar to those
carried out in Bologna.
However, this knock-on effect also extends beyond Italic borders. Cities like Ghent and
Vienna have followed the Italian example and adopted many of the measures taken in
the Bologna Regulation. In fact, in Spain, this effect has been firmly introduced and has
been progressively integrated in Madrid and Barcelona.

Bologna hosts the international conference

"City as Commons", led by LabGov, which
brings together more than 200 experts

Naples, Milan, Rome and other cities

Bologna conducts common management
such as Barcelona follow the example
tests in some neighborhoods of the city

Given the results, Bologna agrees to take these measures to

the whole city through a regulation of civil collaboration

other Italian cities begin to look at Bologna's example

and consider implementing similar regulations

Source: own elaboration from Agyeman et al. (2016) and Bianchi (2018).

8. Barcelona: the Bolognese equivalent in Spain

Barcelona has undergone a municipal transformation where participatory government
models have been promoted and the introduction of different tools to facilitate
communication between the city administration and citizens. In 2019, the Barcelona
en Comú citizen platform (constituted as a political party) explicitly established public-
community cooperation in its program. Although it is true that it is a program in
development, it has been facilitated that citizens can give feedback on the different
measures interposed and that, in the same way, they have the ability to propose new
ones. In fact, this process of citizen collaboration materialized with the creation of the
Projecte normatiu Reglament de participació ciutadana (2017). The model developed
in Bologna has been largely followed.
A “small Bologna” has been experimentally developed in a neighbourhood complex in
Sants, Can Batlló. This self-managed neighbourhood space is probably one of the
projects most similar to those proposed in the Bolognese case. As a result of the
success of the implementation of a social economy model in Can Battló, the possibility
of expansion to other municipalities in the city has been opened. Currently, Can Battló
has numerous pending projects, but some of them have already materialized, such as
the creation of a community garden and a popular library.
The city has also actively participated in various international forums, sharing
experiences of solidarity and urban cooperation with other cities that follow similar
government models. However, and despite the great results obtained to date, it
should not be forgotten that the transition of a city to the commons model is a process
that presents a significant structural challenge, in part due to the great obstacle that
the political plane can pose, current administrative and legal.

9. Finals reflections
To conclude, it is possible to make some final reflections on the case:
Bologna has created a precedent in public management, perhaps giving rise to a new
approach within the governance paradigm with the urban commons as the central
axis. This model has become one of international reference for the transformation of
public management at the local level, however, in many cases the main nucleus of
decision continues to be located at the institutional level in the local government or
administration. Therefore, we can ask ourselves the following questions: Is it a
comprehensive transformation of the public management model? Or perhaps, is it just
another adaptation to try to give local government greater legitimacy in times of the
“representative government crisis”?
We have seen how the concept of commons can be interpreted in many different
ways. Perhaps, from the field of political theory, it is possible to affirm that through
this type of innovation the originally political meaning of the commons has been
altered. Some academics affirm that it is “the only word that has been put on the
agenda by people and not by capital in the last twenty years” (Bianchi, 2018). It is,
therefore, the depoliticization of the term of its original emancipatory character linked
to full self-management that may be showing the absorption of the concept by
conventional politics, based on the current prevailing economic model to be in line
with it.
Bologna is in the third richest area in Italy (Emilia Romagna region), with a population
that has one of the highest per capita income in Europe, which greatly facilitates
experimentation and subsequent implementation of initiatives of this nature. In
addition, with the exception of Naples, most of the cities that try to translate this
management model have a higher GDP per capita compared to their surroundings.
Therefore, the adaptation of this model in cities that lack a collaborative culture and
that present significant economic difficulties is one of the pending tasks for the design
and implementation of urban commons.
t is a participatory model that can generate inequality between people who can
actively participate and those who cannot. For this reason, information and the
provision of capacities must be a task that accompanies the forms of participation.
While Nordic societies are an example of homogeneous and generally proactive
population nuclei, in southern Europe there is a greater presence of immigration and
heterogeneity that makes it more difficult to put participatory models into practice.
For this reason, we firmly believe that city councils should bet on ensuring equal
participation of the entire population in search of greater real and effective political
equality.
It is undoubtedly an experience of great interest since, regardless of how the
development of the commons is interpreted in normative terms, innovation challenges
the limits or barriers in the conception of those who have the ability to think or design
the city model in which to live, at least partially transferring this possibility from the
government to the citizens themselves through the idea of “sharing governance”.
 10. References
Academic articles
Agyeman, J., Bauwens, M., Bernardi, M., Bevolo, M., Bloom, G., Botta, M., ... & Ede, S.
(2016). The city as commons: a policy reader.
Bauwens, M., & Niaros, V. (2017). Changing societies through urban commons
transitions. P2P Foundation.
Bauwens, M., & Onzia, Y. (2017). Commons Transition Plan for the City of Ghent. City
of Ghent and P2P Foundation.
Bianchi, I. (2018). The post-political meaning of the concept of commons: the
regulation of the urban commons in Bologna. Space and Polity, 22(3), 287-306.
Foster, S. R., & Iaione, C. (2015). The city as a commons. Yale L. & Pol'y Rev., 34, 281.
Green European Foundation (2018). Real Democracy in your town Public-civil
partnerships in action.
Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. Y. (1994). Making democracy work: Civic
traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press
Sani, G. (1993). Ciudadanos y sistema político: participación y cultura política de masas
en Italia. Revista de estudios políticos, (79), 121-138.
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective
action. Cambridge University Press.

Resources on the web, documentaries and other resources used

Barcelona en Comú (2019). Programa electoral.
Bologna, Italy Winner. Engaged Cities Award.
https://engagedcitiesaward.citiesofservice.org/bologna-italy-finalist/
Bologna Lab. (2017, January 25). https://labgov.city/explore-by-lab/bolognalab/
Comune di Bologna (2014). Regulación sobre la colaboración entre los ciudadanos y la
ciudad para el cuidado y regeneración de los comunes urbanos.
Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana (2012 [1948]).
Ejecutar los Planes de Equipamientos de Can Batlló y apoyar el proceso participativo y
de gestión vecinal. .
https://barcelonaencomu.cat/es/programa/navega/detall/ejecutar-los-planes-de-
equipamientos-de-can-batllo-y-apoyar-el-proceso
LabGov. https://labgov.city/
The City as a Commons. (2016). Green European Journal.
https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/the-city-as-a-commons/
“The future is Public: a special report from Amsterdam”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i62UWLVFe74&feature=youtu.be

Images taken from Pixabay and Google Images