Are bottom-up enhancement processes just a temporary trend? empirical evidence in italy

The experiences of urban regeneration promoted through social innovation are counted in hundreds in Italy and often significantly contribute to the new use of assets and parts of cities otherwise underutilized or abandoned. In many areas of the country, in particular those most affected by the real estate crisis, assets have changed their function: public property has ceased to represent a reserve of financial value and has become a strategic resource for bottom up social and cultural projects. The research question we intend to face in this paper concerns the lasting or transitory nature of such processes. It is at stake the ability to change permanently the status of public property, no more a deposit of rent available for administrations financially distressed, but resources enabling new forms of local development. We investigated in depth some Italian case studies to better highlight the economic, social and cultural traits of bottom-up regenerations experiences. Some initial results of the research suggest that the ability to transform social and human capital into economic and financial value seems therefore uncertain and, in the absence of a national provision on the matter, depend on the choices made by local authorities.