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Land
Special Issues
Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development
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Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Contexts and Urban-Rural Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2023) | Viewed by 14935

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Arch. Federica Scaffidi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Urban Design and Planning, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Interests: social innovation; recycling; sustainable urban design; sustainable urban planning; urban regeneration
Dr. Luca Tricarico

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Business and Management, LUISS University, 00198 Rome, Italy
Interests: social innovation; organizational innovation; open innovation; urban policy; development economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Gaia Daldanise

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, IRISS - Istituto di Ricerca su Innovazione e Servizi per lo Sviluppo, Naples, Italy
Interests: urban regeneration; social innovation; cultural heritage; landscape planning; urban planning; community engagement

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In a contemporary world stricken by a global pandemic, climate change, assets neglect, job loss, and isolation, cultural and social innovations are becoming increasingly fundamental. Social innovation, cultural heritage enhancement, and creative enterprises are able to redesign sustainable, inclusive living spaces open to local and international cooperation, as also proposed by the New European Bauhaus framework.

In this perspective, there is a need for new urban policies, programmes, and projects with a strong social and cultural impact, where creative regeneration processes, sustainable design, and community spaces coexist in innovative organizational models with spin-offs in the urban, cultural, economic, and social context.

At the heart of the debate are initiatives that encourage collaborative processes, creative regeneration of neglected sites, innovative urban dynamics, sustainable development, and place-based policies that address the issues of contemporary cities by adopting new socially innovative strategies. Indeed, social innovation encourages practices that respond to complex social problems by creating innovative solutions for the community and enhancing the value of assets and urban spaces in the long term.

Urban spaces and underutilized cultural heritage play a central role in this, as they provide the space for community participation, citizens’ involvement, and builds social awareness and cohesion which can trigger processes of re-appropriation, reactivation and development of city spaces.

On the other hand, critical visions must also be considered: these identify social approaches as the production of selective dynamics that skim, omit, and lie the soft power, a power able to shape people’s perceptions through culture. A position that sometimes sees in the word “social” an elusive keyword of localist agendas functional to political and economic elites to promote a bottom–up economic regeneration.

This Special Issue welcomes multidisciplinary research, with theoretical, methodological and empirical (qualitative and/or quantitative) approaches, addressing the role of cultural and social innovation in contemporary city development. Scholars, researchers, and practitioners are invited to present their contributions on one or more of the following topics:

  • Social innovation, sustainable development and new urban dynamics;
  • Creative urban regeneration and cultural heritage enhancement;
  • Collaborative processes for urban regeneration: co-design of community spaces and enterprises;
  • Social innovation in economic development and social place-based policies;

Dr. Arch. Federica Scaffidi
Dr. Luca Tricarico
Dr. Gaia Daldanise
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social innovation
  • urban regeneration
  • cultural innovation
  • cultural and creative industries
  • public spaces
  • collaborative spaces
  • sustainable development
  • social cohesion

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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18 pages, 2998 KiB  
Article
The Power of Radical Place-Making Practices: Lessons Learned from ufaFabrik in Berlin
by Sara Le Xuan
Land 2023, 12(9), 1697; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12091697 - 30 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1289
Abstract
This article investigates ufaFabrik’s practice within Berlin’s urban context, which emerged from an occupation of an abandoned site and evolved into a long-term experiment in radical place-making. Through this case study analysis, it explores the role of radical place-making in shaping urban policy, [...] Read more.
This article investigates ufaFabrik’s practice within Berlin’s urban context, which emerged from an occupation of an abandoned site and evolved into a long-term experiment in radical place-making. Through this case study analysis, it explores the role of radical place-making in shaping urban policy, focusing on the dimensions of decision, place and policy. Drawing on an expanded conceptualisation of place-making that embraces a radical perspective, the study is based on a Ph.D. programme and on extensive field research. ufaFabrik has given place-making a political meaning, challenging conventional urban planning in relation to ‘undecided’ spaces. This paradigm of place-making represents grassroots activism and insurgent action and it can catalyse both local and urban transformations. Through a critical analysis of the limits and possibilities of radical place-making practice, the article argues that the ufaFabrik offers valuable insights into the potential of participatory and community-led approaches to reshape urban spaces and promote more inclusive and sustainable forms of urban governance. The study highlights how the re-politicisation of urban issues emerges from conflict and challenges established power dynamics. It highlights the interconnection between ‘place’ and ‘making’, weaving experiential and generative elements into the urban discourse, highlighting its transformative potential and reconfiguration of decision-making dynamics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
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12 pages, 214 KiB  
Article
A Roadmap for Measuring the Local Impact of Culture from a Legislative Perspective—Normative, Regulatory, and Technical Mechanisms
by Anna Pirri Valentini
Land 2023, 12(8), 1492; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12081492 - 27 Jul 2023
Viewed by 943
Abstract
The use of indicators to measure, evaluate, and assess cultural activities and policies represents a best practice (often unpractised) for local and national legislators and administrators, and nowadays this is more necessary than ever. The use of a tailored indicators framework is advisable [...] Read more.
The use of indicators to measure, evaluate, and assess cultural activities and policies represents a best practice (often unpractised) for local and national legislators and administrators, and nowadays this is more necessary than ever. The use of a tailored indicators framework is advisable for several different reasons, among which the provision of evidence regarding the role of cultural heritage, making it more visible and tangible; the development of the advocacy role of cultural heritage able to create an evidence-based narrative; its being an incentive for policymakers to reach measurable and targeted objectives. This contribution seeks to investigate, from a legal perspective, how to measure local cultural impact or, more correctly, how the measurement of this impact can take place and can be taken into account in the enactment of rules determining the creation and management of cultural projects and activities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
19 pages, 17121 KiB  
Article
The Co-Production of a Shared Community Space in Al-Khodor, Karantina, in the Aftermath of the Beirut Port Blast
by Howayda Al-Harithy and Batoul Yassine
Land 2023, 12(7), 1400; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12071400 - 12 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2417
Abstract
This paper explores urban recovery as a participatory bottom-up process that highlights the importance and social significance of spaces of shared memories in reconstituting the built as well as the sociocultural fabrics of a place. It examines the multiple modes of engaging local [...] Read more.
This paper explores urban recovery as a participatory bottom-up process that highlights the importance and social significance of spaces of shared memories in reconstituting the built as well as the sociocultural fabrics of a place. It examines the multiple modes of engaging local communities in the process of recovering and rehabilitating shared public spaces, including organizing workshops to identify a space of common social significance, co-designing and co-producing a spatial intervention, and maintaining the intervention over the long term. The paper focuses on Karantina, a neighborhood in Beirut that became the site of post-disaster recovery in the aftermath of the Beirut Port blast in August 2020, and the spatial intervention that the urban recovery team at the Beirut Urban Lab implemented in the sub-neighborhood of Al-Khodor. In doing so, the paper contributes experiences from recent work on participatory modes of engaging the local community groups in Al-Khodor. It highlights the importance of community participation in researching, designing, implementing, and maintaining spatial interventions in the near absence of an active government in a country such as Lebanon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
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23 pages, 11545 KiB  
Article
“Wanna Be Provoked”: Inner Peripheries Generators of Social Innovation in the Italian Apennine
by Ezio Micelli, Elena Ostanel and Luca Lazzarini
Land 2023, 12(4), 829; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040829 - 4 Apr 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2231
Abstract
The article examines the territorial conditions, actors, and processes that facilitate or hinder the emergence of social innovation in the inner peripheries. It investigates three social innovation initiatives taking place in the Italian Apennine through a discourse analysis of policy documents and a [...] Read more.
The article examines the territorial conditions, actors, and processes that facilitate or hinder the emergence of social innovation in the inner peripheries. It investigates three social innovation initiatives taking place in the Italian Apennine through a discourse analysis of policy documents and a number of semi-structured interviews of project promoters and local actors. The research findings show that social innovation emerges as an act of territorial provocation practiced by a coalition of actors that weave strong ties with the local community. Provocation takes the form of an adaptive response of the local community to the dynamics of territorial marginalization, a reaction to tackle what we called the “wanna be” feeling, namely, a sense of constriction and frustration found in local inhabitants and linked to conditions of physical and social isolation, inertia, and a lack of future perspectives. This reaction has allowed them to shape new socio-institutional networks and structures that have catalyzed local communities’ capacity to mobilize particular resources or specific assets existing in places, improving their living conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
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20 pages, 2800 KiB  
Article
Image-Building and Place Perception of the Subway Station’s Cultural Landscape: A Case Study in Xi’an, China
by Qian Zhang, Jianwei Yan, Ting Sun and Juan Liu
Land 2023, 12(2), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020463 - 12 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2640
Abstract
In the new phase of urbanization in China, the collective cultural landscapes of subway stations in many metropolises are flourishing, providing a powerful way to coordinate urban cultural development and display the image and identity of the city. This study focuses on the [...] Read more.
In the new phase of urbanization in China, the collective cultural landscapes of subway stations in many metropolises are flourishing, providing a powerful way to coordinate urban cultural development and display the image and identity of the city. This study focuses on the image-building cultural landscapes of subway stations. In the theoretical analysis section, it clarifies the construction logic with supporting theory, highlighting the key concepts involved: environmental design, cultural image perception and place perception, and setting out a structural framework of hypotheses concerning the relationships between these three concepts. In the empirical section, six stations in the urban historical center of Xi’an city were selected as the objects, and evaluation indexes of the three variables based on the perspective of the individual were constructed. Using a questionnaire and a combination of factor analysis and structural equation modeling methods, the data from 480 samples were then analyzed. The results were as follows: the cultural image and place perception presented by the environmental design of subway stations are universal to different categories of people; the structural model results showed that environmental design positively affects cultural image perception and place perception; the mediating effect results showed that environmental design affects place perception through cultural image perception. The empirical results confirmed the necessity and rationality of building the image of the cultural landscape of subway stations. Finally, the study makes suggestions for the optimization of current subway landscape development practices. The contribution of this study lies in the construction of a vertical analysis framework from “encoding: construction” to “decoding: perception”, which could provide a reference for the integration of theory and practice for the cultural landscapes of subway stations in Chinese metropolises. However, the innovative definitions and methods used to examine some of the concepts also have a certain subjectivity and therefore require further evidence-based investigation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
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16 pages, 1673 KiB  
Article
Socio-Cultural Recovery of the Border in Nicosia: Buffer Fringe Festival over Its Boundaries
by Huriye Gürdallı and Sevil Bulanık
Land 2023, 12(2), 370; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020370 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2107
Abstract
The reproduction of space along the border in post-conflict divided cities is an important issue in relation to urban resilience. Nicosia, widely known as the last divided capital city in Europe, is the capital city of Turkish Cypriots in the north and Greek [...] Read more.
The reproduction of space along the border in post-conflict divided cities is an important issue in relation to urban resilience. Nicosia, widely known as the last divided capital city in Europe, is the capital city of Turkish Cypriots in the north and Greek Cypriots in the south. The Buffer Zone was formalized in 1974 as an emergency measure against inter-communal clashes. Further, the walled city of Nicosia was bisected, and thus urban and social unity became a relic of the past. In addition, the city center became the edge of the two bisected halves. The Nicosia Master Plan (NMP) was initiated by professionals on both sides. Moreover, it was in the first planning attempt that Nicosia was considered as a whole. The NMP was the first self-reliant quest that was developed for the purpose of finding a solution that could operate without having to wait for a political consensus. The Ledra Palace crossing opened in 2003 as the first opening on the border that ran across the United Nations (UN)-controlled Buffer Zone in Nicosia. Such a crossing possessed a symbolic meaning; the two communities feel as if they are socially united, and it encouraged NGOs and artists to step forward and allow the border to be perceived not as a boundary but as a shared space. The Buffer Fringe Festival is one of the recent cultural organizations that was held along the divide of Nicosia and it is also the festival scrutinized in this paper. This festival was designed to explore the boundary as a phenomenon experienced in daily life; furthermore, discussions were had regarding how the Buffer Fringe actors and artists perceived the festival as a peace-making tool. Together with visual and verbal records, the analysis conducted in this paper is based on qualitative data within a theoretical framework concerning body–space connections. In this paper, the aim is to emphasize how festivals can function beyond the limits of borders, provide an arena for connecting people, and exemplifies how one can interpret the spatial transformation of a space within the context of post-conflict divided cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
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22 pages, 1395 KiB  
Hypothesis
Crowdsourcing Intangible Heritage for Territorial Development: A Conceptual Framework Considering Italian Inner Areas
by Luca Tricarico, Edoardo Lorenzetti and Lucio Morettini
Land 2023, 12(10), 1843; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12101843 - 27 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1596
Abstract
This contribution aims to present a conceptual framework for developing territorial development strategies based on crowdsourcing technologies to enhance intangible heritage within the context of Italian inner areas. The work provides essential background information, examining technological aspects, defining intangible heritage precisely, and applying [...] Read more.
This contribution aims to present a conceptual framework for developing territorial development strategies based on crowdsourcing technologies to enhance intangible heritage within the context of Italian inner areas. The work provides essential background information, examining technological aspects, defining intangible heritage precisely, and applying socially innovative strategies for marginal territories. Additionally, it offers a strategic framework to implement solutions that engage local communities and ensure widespread benefits. The study integrates methodologies of extensive literature review, policy analysis, and interactions with stakeholders during experimental fieldwork activities. Its objective is to bridge the gap between debates surrounding technological innovation, intangible heritage enhancement, and territorial development. The paper culminates in a synthesis of these aspects, offering a comprehensive information framework valuable for experts and scholars exploring these topics or undertaking projects aligned with these principles and tools. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamics of Cultural and Social Innovation in Urban Development)
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