Context
The project Ascolto Partecipato (Participatory Listening) was launched in Santo Stefano di Sessanio in 2023 as a joint initiative by Ufficio Speciale per la Ricostruzione dei Comuni del Cratere (USRC) and the Mayor of the Municipality, with the aim of initiating a process of urban and social regeneration based on the active involvement of citizens, economic stakeholders, and institutions.
An integrated approach was adopted, addressing regeneration in all its physical, social, economic, and environmental dimensions, looking to leverage the process as an opportunity to counteract the decade-long trend of progressive depopulation and marginalisation affecting the municipality of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, one of the municipalities most severely impacted by the 2009 earthquake.
The project sought to experiment with a new way of practising public administration grounded in cooperation and shared responsibility, where widespread listening and equal and inclusive participation became tools to support better and more democratic decision-making – more transparent, inclusive, and legitimate – while at the same time strengthening territorial cohesion, enabling a more aware and responsible community, and increasing the sense of belonging to the place and trust in public institutions.
Objectives
The project sought to seize the opportunity offered by urban regeneration programmes, on the one hand to counter depopulation and demographic decline, and on the other to mend the relational fractures that had developed at different levels.
The aim of the project was to integrate urban regeneration with community regeneration by structuring a process that actively involved all local stakeholders in identifying the real needs and specific potential of the area, and in outlining proposals aimed at urban, architectural, and naturalistic redevelopment, social life and urban relations, tourism and culture, the development of the local economy and production, and employment, to make the town attractive to live and work in.
A form of proximity-based, multi-level, and cross-cutting governance was promoted, in which institutions and citizens worked together to build a common vision of the future, developing a shared programmatic framework of actions for urban and social regeneration.
Participation resulted both a tool and a solution, on the one hand representing a working approach aimed at improving decision-making and legitimising policies, and on the other hand strengthening the sense of belonging and responsibility within the local community and increasing citizens’ trust in public institutions.
Implementation
The project was formally launched with the presentation of the initiative to the community and the press in April 2023, followed by the signing of an institutional Memorandum of Understanding on 26 June 2023 by the Mayor of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, and the Director of the USRC. For the implementation of the project – led by a USRC consultant with expertise in urban regeneration and participatory design – seven USRC staff members worked jointly with the mayor and the municipal administrators of Santo Stefano di Sessanio.
The project was developed along three main axes:
- technical activities, including data analysis, surveys, and mapping, aimed at an objective reconstruction of the local context;
- listening to and consultation of citizens and the most vulnerable segments of the population (the elderly and children), as well as administrators and economic operators, through the integration of indirect tools (a questionnaire on perceptions of the urban and socio-economic system) and direct tools (presence in open public spaces, workshops, and focus groups) for approximately 150 people;
- promotion and communication, including the creation of the project’s visual identity, the dissemination and outreach of initiatives, the documentation of key stages, and the reporting of intermediate and final results.