Citizen participation and social innovation in the sustainable transformation of cities and the territory
Prof. Carlos Rosa-Jiménez
Prof. Nuria Nebot-Gomez de Salazar
Special Issue Information
The social participation of citizens in community life and associationism is a sample of the social, political and economic development of societies. Many authors relate the social capital of a territory with its economic development. In recent years, citizen participation has experienced an expansion in urban policies and in the processes of making and transforming cities and territories. Local communities are being actively included in these processes.
However, the results are still very different from each other, with a very different incidence of citizen participation and social cohesion in the different environments. Issues such as the involvement of local actors in the transformation of their environments and the co-responsibility of communities with their local development are, still, a challenge for researchers, administrations and practitioners. The 2030 Urban Agenda establishes that it is essential that all sectors of society - governments, companies and citizens - commit to complying with the 17 SDGs, and, consequently, to the sustainable development of our habitats. This publication addresses the importance of an increasingly active, informed and leading citizenry in the transformation of environments.
This special issue welcomes empirical and theoretical papers that offer reflections on sustainable urban and territorial development, addressing issues such as (1) citizen participation as agents of change; (2) governance infrastructures and policies that foster active local communities and community life; (3) new tools based on the use of ICTs such as geographic information systems, social networks, collaborative platforms and the internet system; (4) the importance of resilient and inclusive communities facing emerging territorial and urban conflicts such as rural depopulation, the effects of “overtourism” on local communities, or current social problems such as unwanted loneliness among others. In response to these conflicts, the role of associations and active community life to combat them is considered. The geographical scope of the research topic is global, and contributions related to case studies in developed and developing countries are accepted.
Publications may include, but are not limited to the following topics:
• Citizen participation and social innovation in the sustainable transformation of cities and the territory
• Infrastructures, policies and governance instruments to encourage citizen involvement in local development.
• Local communities as agents of change
• Resilient communities and territorial conflicts
• Rural depopulation, local communities and development strategies
• "Overtourism" and local communities
• Unwanted loneliness. Associationism, new alliances, cooperatives and the role of active citizenship
• Citizen participation and the 2030 Urban Agenda