Dario Cavenago

Organising Strategic Spatial Planning: Experiences from Italian Cities

Strategic urban and regional planning, which emerged in Europe in the 1980s, has become an instrument to establish sustainable development of previously successful industrial areas today affected by the crisis caused mostly by the globalisation of the 1990s. Strategic urban planning concerns organisational land use which in turn regulates resource protection, sustainable development, regeneration and infrastructural investments and multilevel governance. Careful planning is imperative to reach goals such as enhancing local competitiveness and life quality. These dimensions represent the two focal points of the majority of city planning strategies. Their implementation depends not only on planning effectiveness, but also on the organisation and the management of the implementation process by the planning agency or the equivalent local promoter. This paper looks at the experience of Italian cities, in order to derive implications for theory and for future planning processes. More specifically, it analyses the extent to which Italian cities follow similar or divergent paths at the stage of the design process; the Italian case study is then compared with the guidelines proposed by the planning literature and with other European cities.

How Do Southern European Cities Foster Innovation? Lessons from the Experience of the Smart City Approaches of Barcelona and Milan

Innovation, and technological innovation in particular, can help city governments meet the challenges of urban governance, improve urban environments, become more competitive, and address sustainability concerns. To prevent and manage these challenges, cities need to operate in an innovative way. In this context, the smart city approach is emerging as a way of solving tangled and difficult problems. However, there is not a unique and right strategy to develop a smart city. By drawing on a comparison between the experiences of Barcelona (Spain) and Milan (Italy), this chapter aims to explore similarities and differences in the way these two Southern European cities, both being the second largest in their respective countries, are building their smart city agenda. The ultimate aim is to identify the main features of two still developing approaches, which appear to be influenced by the increasing integration of smart dimensions and initiatives in the cities’ strategic agendas and the related opportunities and challenges.

Redesigning Welfare Services for Policies Effectiveness: The non-profit organizations (NPOs) perspective

Abstract The relationship between governments and Third Sector is an important subject of public administration studies which attribute non-profit organizations (NPOs) the double function of welfare service delivery, and – according to a participatory governance model – participation in policies definition. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the comprehension of the NPOs approach to addressing human needs through their services, in order to support new ways to promote the citizens initiative. Through a qualitative services analysis, seven case studies have been assessed. Results suggest that NPOs approach is characterized by the attention to individual as a whole, networking with other NPOs, and focus on users autonomy. To promote participatory governance models, some suggestions for policy-makers are highlighted.

The role of perceived workplace development opportunities in enhancing individual employability

This paper explores the effects on workers’ employability of workplace development opportunities during employment as perceived by the workers themselves. Data was collected through a survey conducted in 2012 in Italy using a sample of 558 workers. The aim was to test the effects of participation in training courses, workplace learning opportunities and career development support on career development in 2013. Results show that the main predictors of subjective career success are related to the career development support provided by supervisors, including mentoring and career counselling, and workplace learning opportunities provided through processes of job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation. By contrast, participation in training courses does not bring any significant effects. The study also reveals that employees’ opportunities for increasing their employability in the workplace depend on a number of personal and occupational characteristics. The study reaches the conclusion that firms can play a significant role in enhancing the career success of an individual and that employability can been encouraged by a mix of on-the-job workplace development opportunities.

Design and Implementation of Open-Government Initiatives at the Sub-National Level: Lessons from Italian Cases

This chapter provides a picture of some issues that should be considered during the design and implementation of open-government initiatives, based on the analysis of four Italian case studies at the sub-national level. Specific attention is given to the contextual rigidities which may jeopardise the implementation process, in contrast to the opportunities provided by the use of ICTs. The study suggests that the availability of open data may allow greater autonomy to the public institution wishing to develop a certain tool to support policy-making or public services provision. Where the relevant data are ‘non-open’, the institution needs to foster cooperation with the subjects, be they public or private, who hold the data. Open data therefore reduce the coordination costs of these initiatives. On the other hand, whenever implementation requires cooperation among different administrations, the willingness to collaborate needs to be verified and promoted, and not taken for granted. The commitment of the individuals at the apex of the leading organisations is also confirmed as critical for the overall success of the initiative. These cases also suggest that open government may support higher effectiveness of public services provision through a better understanding of citizens’ needs. This can lead to the co-definition of such needs, and not only—as in most forms of current public engagement—of the answers to those needs. An additional benefit relates to the possibility of enhancing also the effectiveness of these answers, as they become more modular.

Defining hospital's internal boundaries. An organisational complexity criterion

The aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidences supporting the definition of hospital wards boundaries in organisational designing processes, by suggesting services aggregation criteria that are focused on organisational complexity. In order to test the research hypotheses, a panel data analysis was conducted on Lombardy hospitals in Italy. Information was gathered both from administrative records - aggregated at in-patient ward level - and general registry offices. The results highlight that the wards offering integrated services perform better than those that are more specialised. However, for growing levels of within-complexity, the positive effects of formal integration between wards tend to reduce. Some guidelines for practitioners engaged in defining hospitals organisational structures can be drawn from the empirical analysis.

Casi di studio

Nel presente capitolo saranno esposti due casi di studio riguardanti i servizi abilitati da tecnologie ICT, caratterizzati da componenti fortemente innovativi, soprattutto rispetto ai processi sviluppati, ai contributi dati dagli utenti e ai modelli di erogazione del servizio.

A case of employment services in Italy: From a tentative quasi-market to focused partnership programmes

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the recent evolution of the employment services system of a Northern Italian region (Lombardy), which was planned according to principles inspired by quasi-markets and horizontal subsidiarity theories, with a focus on its design and implementation challenges. It aims to provide practical and theoretical insights for the design of public services’ governance systems that similarly feature public-private competition and/or cooperation and users’ freedom of choice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews and integrates previous empirical research analysing the programmes that are part of the recent evolution of Lombardy’s employment services system, in order to draw insights and lessons. Findings – The paper suggests areas where closer scrutiny and related intervention is warranted on the part of the institution in charge of the system’s design (in this case the regional administration), especially in terms of appropriate design of incentive mechan...

Progettazione, realizzazione e valutazione dei servizi: i temi principali

In un processo di erogazione dei servizi sono rilevabili alcune componenti principali: progettazione, realizzazione e valutazione che si legano tra loro in un processo volto alla soddisfazione delle esigenze dell’utente ed al presidio costante di condizioni di qualita.

Il ruolo della conoscenza, dell’informazione e dell’ICT nei servizi

In questo capitolo saranno trattati i temi della tecnologia e della conoscenza, evidenziando l’importanza del loro contributo nella progettazione di servizi innovativi e nei processi di innovazione dei servizi, nel capitolo sara inoltre evidenziato il ruolo che la tecnologia e la conoscenza svolgono nel processo di erogazione dei servizi e come entrano a far parte dell’output dei servizi. Nel corso del capitolo si evidenziera l’evoluzione della tecnologia nei servizi, l’attenzione sara rivolta in particolare alle tecnologie dell’informazione e comunicazione (ICT), e a illustrare come queste permettono lo sviluppo e la diffusione di nuovi modelli di servizi e nuovi paradigmi di business. Saranno analizzati in particolare i servizi che impiegano le tecnologie Web 2.0 per la creazione e la gestione della conoscenza sia in ambito aziendale (si accennera alla famiglia di servizi Enterprise 2.0) sia in contesti sociali di dimensioni maggiori.