Innovation, technologies, participation: New paradigms towards a 2.0 citizenship

Abstract

The spread of information and communications technologies (ICT) and mobile devices is changing the relationship among citizenship and urban spaces. The use of the internet allows communities – either real or virtual ones – to produce an increasing amount of data about cities and their life. These assumptions were the basement for the “Urban Laboratory in Innovation”, a workshop held in Potenza (Southern Italy), in which experts and researchers asked a group of volunteers to analyse life in public spaces of a neighbourhood and point out insights for its regeneration. This experience shows how social network and VGI are useful tools for the development of innovative policies, e-democracy and participation to decision-making processes. Nevertheless, even when specific tools are implemented to favour the inclusion of citizens into the policy-making processes, traditional participatory and design approaches are still a valuable instrument to synthesise their requirements and effectively support the development of site-specific urban planning tools.