Why multi-stakeholder practices don’t work: looking beyond the extent and diversity of actors for co-producing collective action; a case study from an inner area in Italy

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the improvement of multi-stakeholder practices within Italian territorial cohesion and planning policy. The research used a qualitative approach for investigating and analyzing the case of the ‘Alta Tuscia-Antica Città di Castro Inner Area’, in the Lazio Region. Using a theoretical framework that combines the coproduction perspective in territorial planning with the concept of collective capabilities, the paper outlines recommendations to improve multi-stakeholder practices. Field and desk research suggested a shift towards a co-production perspective which strengthens the capabilities of territories for collective action.

KEYWORDS:

• Territorial planning
• multi-stakeholder practices
• co-production approach
• territorial capabilities

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the project manager for her effort in this important practices.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Strategy (or the Area Strategy Document) is the name of the final document required at the end of the entire SNAI process (after the Draft Ideas and the Preliminary Strategy) in which all the interventions are defined and then signed by the parties in the Framework Program Agreement.

2. The conceptualization of capabilities is part of a growing body of literature that echoes the work on the capability approach of Sen (1999) and Nussbaum (2001) by framing the enhancement of individuals’ opportunities to interact according to their abilities. The capability approach enables the participants to access capability and live a fulfilling life.

3. ‘It is on this action by a group of stakeholders involving themselves in production or in a project that territory is built, enabling territorial resources to be revealed and developed’ (Dissart, 2012, p. 3).

4. ‘These are marginalised territories at risk of abandonment, which today make up about 60% of Italy’s surface area, with about 4,000 centres falling into this category, where more than 13 million citizens or 22.7% of the Italian population reside’, cf. https://www.ministroperilsud.gov.it/it/approfondimenti/aree-interne/cosa-sono/.

5. The main objectives of this policy are both medium and long-term. The long-term objective is to reverse the demographic decline by improving the quality of life and well-being of people living in isolated areas. This objective is linked to the reduction of the social and material costs linked to the progressive depopulation and abandonment of the territory: for example, the loss of cultural heritage, the degradation of the landscape, or the increase in a host of risks from seismic to hydrogeological hazards. Medium-term objectives focus on an increase in local employment and job opportunities, the recovery of unexploited natural resources, territorial capital, and the strengthening of local development factors.

6. The text refers to the Italian document translated by the authors. The quotations in the documents are translated by the authors.

7. Thematic tables correspond to thematic working groups.

8. The area shows increases in depopulation and ageing of the community, passive mobility towards the nearby Regions of Umbria and Tuscany as well as towards the capital, especially for health services. Furthermore, the Alta Tuscia-Antica Città di Castro Strategy Paper briefly touches upon the history of associationism in the area and refers to the data on the associationism of the area’s municipalities. At the start of the SNAI in 2013, some municipalities in Alta Tuscia nominated their own territory for the Strategy, while the neighbouring Mountain Community was the driving force behind the nomination of other municipalities in the area. The resulting two different project ideas on two different perimeters were not followed up.

9. From the official Strategy document of Alta Tuscia-Antica Città di Castro (2020), translated by the authors.

10. By ‘ordinary’ function of planning, we mean the activity of planning for and within the government of the territory.

11. The interviews with local public officers of the municipalities involved in the inner area processes took place from March to June 2022.

12. Public officer interview, 13/06/2022.

13. Project manager interview, 21/03/2022.

14. Project manager interview, 21/03/2022.

15. Public officer interview, 13/06/2022.