Energia come community asset e orizzonte di sviluppo per le imprese di comunità

Le nuove tecnologie per le produzioni distribuite di energia stanno raggiungendo un livello di maturità che lascia presagire un diffuso sviluppo di iniziative dal basso nella costituzione di “sistemi energetici locali”. Queste formule hanno un ruolo cruciale per la ridiscussione dell'intero sistema infrastrutturale e del mercato dell'energia. Se questo tema è ampiamente discusso dal punto di vista tecnologico e ingegneristico, il dibattito sulle caratteristiche delle organizzazioni che dovranno guidare le iniziative locali è appena iniziato. L'obiettivo del paper è di verificare a che punto è il dibattito nella diffusione dei sistemi energetici locali, gli approcci sperimentati e quale possibile ruolo per le imprese di comunità. Il key-issue evidenziato è rappresentato dagli aspetti normativi e regolatori relativi al “grande” mercato energetico. Un “ecosistema normativo” basato su operatori, produzioni e reti “centralizzate”che poco si presta alle particolari esigenze delle iniziative locali. L'analisi intende aprire un nuovo orizzonte di diffusione delle “Imprese di Comunità Energetiche”, concludendo con una riflessione sul ruolo nel dibattito generale sul tema e nello sviluppo di città e territori policentrici

Community Energy Enterprises in the Distributed Energy Geography

The debate on distributed energy systems is evolving in a way that enlarges the domain of traditional energy policy, especially regarding urban and regional development priorities and community engagement aspects. The present article discusses on the possibility to adopt Community Energy Enterprises as a specific organizational model that may represent a crucial and not yet explored tool to enhance the diffusion of a distributed energy geography, promoting new approaches for community-based energy systems. The crucial issue here is that in the discussion of the current energy system we may refer not only to production unit, but also to ownership, decision-making and local responsibility as regards new forms of provision, infrastructures and organizations. With these objectives, the paper discusses in a multi-scalar perspective the role of these organizations may innovate the governance of the current energy market, as part of a bottom-up based socio-material transition in the energy market: mobilizing local factors, institutions and approaches in users and citizens\u2019 engagement. \ua9 2018, Aalborg University press. All rights reserved

New Methodologies to tackle wicked problems

The objective of this commentary is to launch the Social Innovation Unit of A-id (Agenda for International Development) think thank. A young and independent think tank devoted to proposing novel solutions to equitable international development. The unit on Social Innovation is responsible of the research activities related to social innovation practices ( teams, funds, labs, units, living labs, design factories, hybrid spaces, etc.), cultural and creative entrepreneurship and community-led policy making, with a strong focus on their role within the knowledge economy paradigm.We experiment, map and develop methodologies that work in and at the edge of different territorial settings, aiming at engaging different local actors, systematising interests and responsibilities related to the design of new solutions in the field of social inclusion and other complex socio-environmental issues. The methods experimented are based on the identification of shared objectives among stakeholders designing \u201clocal arenas\u201d to achieve common knowledge, sharing competences and resources to tackle specific issues and finally delivering experimental solutions. Through the implementation, evaluation and dissemination of social innovation-based experimental activities we want to make the most from network effects that results from the interaction between different actors, creating environments for open innovation processes and commoning of resources. We aim at defining an updated framework of Research and Innovation (R&I) strategies with feedback coming from the bottom-up: experiencing pathways for collaborative and place-sensitive approaches in policy design, fostering entrepreneurial initiatives able to match experimental urban and regional development agendas, fostering mechanisms of peer exchange of knowledge and dissemination of creative practices among different communities

Nuove forme di protagonismo urbano: servizi e strumenti per la città policentrica

Nella città contemporanea il dibattito sui “beni comuni” è evidentemente legato alla necessità di ridiscutere la fornitura pubblica di servizi e infrastrutture, aprendosi a nuovi organismi insorgenti nelle comunità locali. Oggi l'inefficacia delle formule di regolamentazione tradizionali imbrigliano le organizzazioni sociali in formule rigide incapaci di rispondere ad efficaci regimi di produzione. In particolare il sistema normativo ha spesso impedito una diffusione su larga scala di nuovi esperimenti istituzionali da parte degli attori privati, considerandoli come marginali, più indirizzati a soddisfare solamente i propri interessi che quelli “comuni”. Il contributo proposto mira a investigare le caratteristiche ed il funzionamento di questi meccanismi operativi, mostrando la capacità di produzione di un “servizio collettivo” come espressione di iniziative volontarie e indipendenti delle comunità locali. L'analisi si concentrerà sull'approfondimento di due strumenti particolari: l'utilizzo della rendita per nuove formule finanziarie private di fornitura di servizi urbani collettivi; gli schemi istituzionali contrattuali per la gestione di servizi energetici locali. Attraverso questi strumenti si definisce una strategia per la città policentrica, ossia capace di accogliere le aspirazioni dei propri cittadini, abilitandoli ad agire liberamente ed indipendentemente dalla posizione e dal ruolo che rivestono in ambito urbano. Questo aspetto consente alla città di adattarsi ai repentini cambiamenti dei paradigmi tecnologici, economici ed ambientali, rispondendo concretamente alle esigenze delle comunità locali

\u201cMay the Force move you\u201d: Roles and actors of information sharing devices in urban mobility

The innovation recently brought into the market for mobility innovation (by apps, social networks and sharing economy practices) impacts upon the economic appeal of urban areas and strongly influences the preferences of individuals in happiness, lifestyles and related aspect of urban consumption. Several sharing devices are nowadays producing such effects, offering innovative solutions to support the availability of mobility supply. They do so by conveying useful tools to the whole community of users, by proposing new ways of producing knowledge and services, and by favoring symmetric information in the urban mobility market. The paper aims to discuss the impact of these innovation devices in shaping individual\u2019s mobility preferences, by drawing on a wide set of experiences that have introduced new technologies and shared mobility practices that provide significant information related to mobility. Drawing on a literature review referred to a wide set of new technologies and shared mobility practices based on significant information related to mobility, the paper draws its discussion on three analytical dimensions: the role that information has in shaping individual mobility choices, and how it may interact with individual preferences and needs; the varied forms of relevant mobility information made available by information-sharing devices; the many actors (corporations, public administrations, community groups\u2026) who produce information collecting data and making them available in different forms. Drawing on these elements, a policy framework is discussed, to define suitable operational approaches to urban mobility that are more attentive to individual needs and more effective in terms of sustainability

Distributed energy production in a polycentric scenario: policy reforms and community management

Any discussion of distributed energy systems inevitably centres on how they compare with the large energy systems, i.e. the traditional centralised model of energy production, and on the viability of local energy systems as alternatives in terms of efficiency and sustainability. At present, the debate on local energy systems and distributed energy production hinges mainly on questions of technology and engineering; at most, some reflections on economy are thrown in. What we believe is essential is to cast the net wider and include other dimensions. In particular, we also need to consider in greater depth the organisational and institutional issues involved \u2013 until now, less considered and discussed. In this perspective, the main question addressed by the present article is if and how new forms of local organisations can provide the crucial catalyst for a new polycentric distributed energy scenario. Copyright \ua9 2018 Informa UK Limite

The food territory: cultural identity as local facilitator in the gastronomy sector, the case of Lyon

In times of increased territorial competition, processes of territorialization of food and gastronomy are often considered as key assets of regional economic performances. Yet, for they are by nature diffuse and intangible, it is often hard to understand precisely through what mechanism they are operating and what kind of effects they have. Building on the framework proposed by the regional development platform approach, the present article explores the case of Lyon, trying to unveil the main communication patterns between local identity and economic performances. While territorial identity seems to be a facilitator of exchanges between stakeholders, it can also appear sometimes as causing inertia and slowing down institutional innovation. Beyond the specific findings on the case studied, the objective of the article is to propose innovative reflections on the debate of local identity dynamics and territorial marketing for local food governance and policy making

Making the most of technology in education Lessons from school systems around the world

Education is our most powerful tool to improve and shape the lives of young people, but our school systems around the world face huge problems. These problems vary from country to country - from vastly unequal access or crises in teacher recruitment, to the growing costs of modernisation or stalling social mobility - and should leave us with some concern about the future. With our concern should come a degree of optimism. While the challenges our school systems face are big, technology - designed, used and implemented effectively - is providing an increasingly sophisticated set of tools to help us address them. We can find inspiring examples of the benefits for teachers and learners, often with dramatic improvements across a range of measures from attainment or attendance, to parental engagement or teacher workload. However, examples of technology achieving impact at scale and impacting on school systems as a whole (beyond the particular context of a small number of schools) are rarer than we might think. And while we can find extraordinarily clever pieces of software and hardware, often EdTech is too far-removed from the immediate concerns and context of teachers and learners in the classroom. There remains a marked gap between the excitement surrounding a technology-enabled school-system of the future and the reality of technology in most classrooms today. This report examines nine examples - three in Italy, three in the rest of Europe, and three in the rest of the world - of inspiring practice where technology is impacting on large numbers of teachers and learners. Drawing lessons from shared problems and successful approaches from across these examples, this report provides recommendations for making the most of technology in school systems. These recommendations are grouped in three sections. The first relates to scale. How can we ensure that the benefits of investment in technology are felt more widely, and that the exciting practice seen in exceptional schools can be felt elsewhere? The second relates to schools. How can we gain buy-in from schools to wider programmes of change? And how can school leaders support their school community to make the most of change in their school? The third relates to philanthropic foundations. Foundations emerge from many of our case studies as playing a vital role in supporting innovation and brokering complex relationships within our school systems. We explore how foundations can use their resources and status outside government to support innovation and EdTech