ABSTRACT
The present chapter offers an overview of the public participation field in a national context—Italy—that is particularly interesting not only because public participation professionals (PPPs) have been increasing in numbers over the last decade, but also because two Italian regions (Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna) have institutionalized public participation through ad hoc laws. The chapter, based on semi-structured interviews conducted with PPPs, addresses two main questions. The first concerns the black box of facilitation: which criteria, standards, approaches and methods do Italian PPPs use? The second addresses the factors affecting PPPs’ work: how do political, social and institutional factors influence PPPs’ work?
