City administrations are facing a whole range of challenges on the social, environmental and economic fronts. New competences are being transferred from the national or regional levels while the budgets available to tackle them are shrinking. In this increasingly difficult context, social innovation is a new asset. Citizens are taking promising initiatives. They are inventing new and more sustainable solutions to solve their day-to-day problems. They are engaging in the lives of their neighbourhoods and regenerating the social fabric around them. They are taking part in the design and delivery of public services. In doing so, they are taking care of common resources and meeting many of the concerns that city administrations have.
URBACT’s Social Innovation in Cities, looks at social innovation from the point of view of cities. Social innovation is intended here to mean innovative solutions, new forms of organisation and new interactions to tackle social issues. In particular, it focuses on innovative solutions in terms of the governance of cities: new forms of collaboration between the city administration, citizens and local stakeholders which can generate more sustainable, resilient and open systems at city level.
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