Contents
- Year of publication: 2023
- Source: Show
- Pages: 3
- DOI Address: -
- PDF: ppsy/52/ppsy2023tocs.pdf
Co-creation of public services implies new roles and responsibilities that, at least potentially, change the balance of control. In this way, it aligns closely with democratic renewal. This paper draws on the outcomes of a collaborative innovation project Co-creation of Service Innovation in Europe (CoSIE) funded under Horizon 2020. CoSIE built upon the idea that public sector innovations can be best achieved by creating collaborative partnerships between service providers (public sector agencies, third sector organisations, private companies) and citizens who receive services directly or indirectly. CoSIE was implemented through ten real-life innovation pilots in different public services across Europe. Results showed how co-creative methods could promote democratic dimensions, increasing the civic participation of marginalised and often voiceless population groups (residents of depleted urban neighbourhoods, disabled people in remote rural areas, citizens adrift from the world of work, and non-EU migrants). Some CoSIE pilots were more successful than others in extending impact beyond their immediate localities and service contexts. The paper highlights common factors that helped share learning and evolve project innovations into the ‘modus operandi’ of institutions and societies.
co-creation public services Social innovations lived experience evaluation
Since December 2019, the Pact of Free Cities, founded by the mayors of the Visegrád capitals, has expressed the dire wish not to be held hostage for their national governments’ disrespect for the rule of law. Being cut off from financial support out of political intentions, they lobby for direct EU support. The article explores the dynamics of this initiative, its strategies to reach out to European institutions and their resonance, as well as the meaning of the Pact’s city diplomacy from a democratic theory perspective. The analysis of various documents published by the Pact of Free Cities shows how it combines its efforts to promote democracy, the rule of law and sustainable policies by engaging on the EU level. The Pact developed a distinct type of urban experimentalism that established a new link between the European and the city level.
urban experimentalism EU budget democratic resilience Pact of Free Cities city diplomacy
Co-creation of public policy can be considered a democratic innovation, all the more so as this approach seems to secure the possibility of „redefining what is democracy”. Understood this way, it is a direct source of changes in urban governance systems. Hence, the essence of the considerations is reflection on co-creation as a principle regulating the current urban governance practices and public participation in Berlin. The subject of the analysis in the empirical part of the paper is the Sozialer Zusammenhang („Social Cohesion”) Programme implemented since 2020. The aim is to present the specificity accompanying co-creation with citizens and evaluate the solutions’ effectiveness. Particular attention is paid to the key issue of what institutional arrangements support co-creation in a specific local context, i.e., at the neighbourhood level, and to discuss to what extent they can be considered effective public participation.
co-creation of public policy Berlin urban governance local development participation
The reverted demographic pyramid makes youth a decreasing percentage of our increasingly ageing population, leaving youth groups with less power and chances to influence the future of public policies and services through established participation channels. There is a potential risk of losing the interests of broader, including less heard, youth groups in democratic decision-making and implementation. Research evidence shows that we need to broaden knowledge and accountability towards these groups by including them more in co-creation to secure their trust and meaningful policy impact. One major way to improve trust in the public sector is by enhancing the abilities of professionals, managers, politicians and NGOs to co-create public and individual values with youth groups for better services and solutions instead of acting and making decisions on their behalf. Also, cross-sector collaboration among institutional units or stakeholders from different sectors on a local scale is often required to enhance the value of services or local community decisions. This paper explores from a comparative perspective the local government’s readiness for enhanced democratic participation and co-creation of public services and public value with youth. Based on document studies, interviews and cross-sectoral learning dialogues between engaged researchers, public sector and NGO representatives conducted in three countries – Sweden, Finland, and Estonia – the paper illustrates the current perceptions of public professionals and managers regarding their approach to co-creation with youth and the public sector roles, readiness and perceived gaps. The paper distinguishes between the municipal ambitions of enhanced youth participation and co-creation.
dialogues co-creation readiness youth participation deliberation
The co-creation/co-production paradigm received significant attention in the last decades from Public Administration managers, officials, and scholars as a viable tool to overcome the limits of the New Public Management framework. Some scholars recognise that co-creation can be the basis for building an alternative administration model called New Public Governance. Other research found that co-creation is an innovative practice in the social investment policy frame. A more recent EU research project examines the idea and practice of co-creation in public services informed by lived experience pilots in 10 European countries. This paper presents the Italian case as an example of an institutional configuration open to the citizens’ participation in the co-design of public services. The paper is organised as follows. In the first paragraph, we illustrate the recent development of the legislation concerning the participation of citizens and civil society organisations in designing and delivering public services and/or management of common goods. The second paragraph deals with a deep analysis of “grey material” and scientific publications concerning the history, evolution and future perspectives of the “Shared Administration” procedures. The third paragraph presents a case study of collaboration between citizens, Third Sector/Civil Society Organisations (TSO/CSO) and public administration at the local level (Municipality of Bologna). The conclusive paragraph summarises the key findings of our study.
welfare policy co-creation participatory democracy co-production Social innovations
The paper is based on the observation of the process of reviving the forgotten culture of household economy, horticulture and livestock farming in disadvantaged rural areas and, through this, to develop a new service model for rural communities to strengthen the role of grassroots initiatives and enhancing the mechanisms of the co-operative model of local economy and democracy. Our research has shown that bottom-up models have several barriers to local governments in rural areas. The change in the political and governmental model of the last ten years has resulted in the restraint of local government autonomy and the vacancy of the role of local governments as public service providers. In this system, we can observe the strengthening of administrative dependence, the devaluation of the local elected political leadership (mayors) and the emergence of new rules of local power. In small settlements with less than 2,000 inhabitants, central state and political dependence intensified. Attempts to strengthen local communities have proved to be a major challenge in a highly centralised model of government. The present study gathers the factors that hinder the success of co-creative approaches in the local context and shows how the public service innovations organised by local governments are determined by the political and economic culture prevailing at the national level.
local power system justification co-creation paternalism social capital
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