La svolta collaborativa nel disegno delle politiche per la governance delle aree umide

The essay attempts an analysis of collaborative policymaking in contexts characterized by the complexity of public action. The empirical case addressed is the policy design of planning tools for wetland governance. Institutional collaborative policy design is framed as one of the trajectories of the interactive State in an original combination of top-down and bottom-up dynamics of policy-making. The focus is, on the one hand, on the democratization of public decision-making processes and, on the other hand, on the need to increase institutional capacity to deal with public issues by supporting social innovation processes. The main features of collaborative policy design are then exemplified, with a particular focus on certain types of instruments for ecological transition. The following outlines some of the key features: The design activity is conceptualized as a continuous process, following an incremental and iterative approach. Collaboration is structured through formalized, institutionalized pathways, aiming to achieve explicit agreements; this characteristic distinguishes the institutional collaborative policy design from informal collaboration processes that emerge within networks. The tools and policies for collaboration are not intended to be substitutive but are developed in addition to, or layered upon, existing instruments. The innovations they introduce, in fact, strengthen the stability and effectiveness of current plans and policies. For instance, Wetland Area Contracts are not designed to bypass or replace existing plans; this "layering" approach is conceptualized as a mode of gradual change driven through policy design. The identification of material and immaterial resources is grounded in a strategy of careful mapping of the existing landscape and activation of local contexts; from this perspective, the actors themselves are considered as resources. The collaborative philosophy does not primarily address issues of coordination or integrated action; rather, it seeks to generate conditions of mutual influence among actors, promoting practices of reciprocity, mutual learning, and trust. Promoters of collaborative policy design processes, including local government institutions adopting collaborative tools, interpret their role not only as facilitators of interaction between public structures and economic and social actors, including citizens, but also as facilitators of connections between existing networks of private actors and civic organizations operating in fragmented contexts. In the design process, particular attention must be paid to the creation of the collective entity that will assume responsibility for the implementation and future of the collaborative process; underestimating the development of political and/or civic leadership can prove detrimental to the governance of the processes themselves. ---La gestione e protezione delle risorse ambientali chiede di superare gli strumenti e le politiche settoriali, e suggerisce di affrontare i problemi da un punto di vista ecosistemico, attivando un approccio capace di andare oltre le divisioni territoriali (competenze) e orientato a discutere contemporaneamente di questioni ambientali, di governance, di conservazione e di sviluppo economico dei sistemi insediativi. Il servizio si propone di discutere queste pratiche di governance attraverso la presentazione di alcuni casi, soffermandosi a riflettere sulle criticità e potenzialità di un approccio collaborativo nel campo della pianificazione di ambienti fragili.