ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the origins of civic crowdfunding and the role of digital platforms in enabling citizens to promote and/or support civic initiatives. Through the mechanisms of civic crowdfunding, citizens acting as initiators can proactively design a project proposal, publish it on an online platform, attract supporters, reach the funding target, and develop the project. The chapter discusses alternative forms of participation, urban development, and governance, generated through collaborative actions and interactions between a range of local community groups, with the support of local government agencies. Understandings of urban regeneration evade easy definitions and remain ambiguous in relation to scope, approaches, actors, and goals. In the United Kingdom since the post-war period, urban regeneration meant reconstruction redevelopment and renewal of bombed sites and slum housing. The chapter explores the civic crowdfunding framework programme launched in 2014 by the Municipality of Milano in the broader context of civic crowdfunding initiatives in Italy.
