SEOUL DESIGN AWARD

The City of Torino has been developing a revolutionary policy finalized to support social innovative projects and to face the current and complex social challenges: a step forward encouraging a transition from a welfare state approach to a welfare community model. The challenge is to respond to local needs through a “collaborative governance” approach, characterized by a dynamic role of the local actors and citizens in co-design and co- management of public services, generating positive effects in economic and social terms.

The whole strategy of the City of Torino is summarized by Torino Social Impact, which brought together local stakeholders, co-designed collaborative services and analyzed new legal/contractual solutions that can enable the promotion of new forms of public-private partnership.

Citizenship, the associative environment, the entrepreneurial and creative ecosystem, together with the third sector become themselves civic actors that - along with the Public Administration acting as an enabling force rather than a supplier - design, develop and manage activities producing a high social impact, which is fundamental in guaranteeing adequate levels of welfare, thus taking up the challenge of transforming needs into opportunities.

In this regard an example of collaborative governance is represented for example by the “Network of Neighbourhood Houses” (Case del Quartiere), spaces for public use requalified during the ‘90s thanks to the collaboration between public institutions, banking foundations, social enterprises, associations and citizens, by Torino Social Factory aiming at supporting welfare communities projects in blighted urban areas, Co-city promoting new forms of commons based urban welfare.