Urban Civic Networks as sites of social innovation and co-creation of value. The case of Bari Metropolitan City

Purpose Leveraging on the paradigm of co-creation and co-production which make up the theoretical framework of this paper, the ultimate goal of this study is to analyse how community‟s civic networks, with their own organisational models and tools, generate social innovation in urban spaces. While taking into account the international best practices, the paper mainly focuses on the Italian experience of the City of Bari. Design/methodology/approach The paper consists of two sections. The first section explores the conceptual and interpretative developments in the realm of the relevant literature. In the second section, the focus will be mostly on the Italian experience, facing the recent administrative reform of “Municipi” which implied a reorganisation of former sub-municipalities into merged and independent ones. The Italian narrative lends itself to placing urban success on social forces, networks and connections boosters that ended up in the creation of civic networks expressing a significantly self-determined local leadership. The method is mainly qualitative and based on case studies and action research. Findings Findings highlight two crucial processes in progress. The first concerns the capacity to generate social cohesion between existing associative civic networks inside the community and booster of interactive co-designing and co-production of critical public services. The second highlights the ability of each “Municipio” to manage their own budget and the capacity to implement, monitor and control their shared socio-cultural projects. Urban Civic Networks, which share the same vision and mission, are made of different actors such as schools, for and non-profit association of the third sector, local committees, parishes, foundations, and informal groups all merged into temporary associations of purpose. Standing as quintessential socially struggling entities, Municipi become spaces and places for public policy design and formulation that highlight the importance of community engagement, local leadership and civic networks in fostering urban thriving.