ABSTRACT
In this chapter we present a transversal analysis of the socially innovative initiatives studied in this book. In the first section we explain and compare the features and achievements of the socially innovative experiences across case studies in light of the three dimensions of social innovation considered in Chapters 1 through 3. In the second section we compare the territorial setting, spatial reach and inter-scalar relations of our case studies, paying particular attention to the way neighbourhood-initiated innovative experiences can have a broader spatial impact. In the third section we address the reproductive dynamics of social innovation: we analyse the philosophical roots, the historical trajectory and the cultural conditions of socially innovative initiatives; we also reflect on the role of resources, especially human and financial. We end our analysis by returning to the tension already addressed in Chapter 1, about the role of ‘community’ versus ‘society’ in socially transformative dynamics. This tension can only be overcome by giving a proper status to scalar sociopolitics. In this perspective, society becomes an ensemble of multi-scalar social relations, in which communities, despite their natural affinity with the local (the ‘neighbourhood’ in this book), remain privileged places of human initiative, co-operation, deployment of resources, etc., all contributing to the building of society.
