Local Welfare and the Organization of Social Services

Local Area Planning in the Lombardy Region

verfasst von: Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book discusses local area planning in the Lombardy region of Italy. The book provides valuable insights about the development of local welfare systems and the territorial organization of social services through the analysis of the evolution of the Local Area Plan, which lies at the intersection of sub regional governance and of social services delivery models. Using Lombardy as a case study, this brief analyzes the structural conditions influencing the establishment of Local Area Plans, their effect on inter-municipal cooperation, and the need for possible reforms.

The book is organized as follows: the first chapter presents a reconstruction of the national and regional framework, analyzing the structure of ties and opportunities within which Local Area Plans are called to act. The second chapter provides a review of the extant literature on Local Area Plans and introduces the theoretical framework used by the volume. The third chapter details legislation introduced in Lombardy to reform the governance structure of Local Area Plans by supporting a process of reorganization and aggregation. The fourth chapter presents some cases of Local Area Plan aggregation. The final chapter presents the conclusion and some brief considerations about the future of social planning.

Providing an empirical analysis of local service delivery, this book will be useful to scholars and practitioners interested in public administration, welfare, local government, non-profit and public organizations, and management.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

During the last years, the systems of local welfare are undergoing several organizational changes, which aim to redefine the relationship between the service’s planner, providers and citizens and, consequently, between the social needs and the policy answer delivered. The book aims to provide valuable insights into the evolution of local welfare and the territorial organisation of social services by analysing the evolution of a specific organisational instrument, the Local Area Plan, which lies at the intersection between the themes of (sub) regional governance and models for the supply of to supply social services. The research will show how these peculiar governance arrangements to Italian local welfare have changed profoundly over time, becoming both a catalyst for policies planned at different levels and a reference point for all the territorial actors involved in social policies.

Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Chapter 2. The Structuration of the Italian Welfare System: From Fragmentation to Innovation

Abstract

The role and the functions of the Local Area Plan are deeply influenced by the nature of the Italian welfare system. The frequent changes and adjustment in the welfare system – both at the national and local level – have intertwined with the modification of a local administrative landscape characterised by high territorial fragmentation. The need to reduce the endemic fragmentation in the welfare state provision, paved the way for the birth of the Area Local Plans. This governance arena has become the institutional place for planning and governing the social policies of the territory. The task has therefore been to consolidate the network of social services and encourage the development of a new model of local governance. At the heart of this choice is the need to strengthen the planning function in order to promote a policy model that is increasingly integrated and capable of strengthening the network of services in the territory. What have been the main (and different) legislative steps – both at the national and local level – that defines the function of Area Social Plan? what are the opportunities and the pitfalls defined by such a variegated legislative framework?

Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Chapter 3. A (Possible) Answer to Fragmentation in Social Assistance Policy. The Local Area Plan

Abstract

The national Law No. 328 aimed for the first time to create a common national framework for social policies, through the creation of an innovative organisational arrangement for the local management of social-assistance interventions (the Local Area Plan). Such novelty has been framed as an organizational answer to the endemic fragmentation which affected the system of social services provision. This chapter will define what a Local Area Plan effectively is; how it is structured and what are its competencies, underlining strengths and weaknesses. From the dialogue between the literature concerning inter-municipal cooperation and Local Area Plans we will try to define the peculiarities of the Local Area Plan as an organisational instrument for boosting agreements between municipalities and providing different shaped social services. This effort will allow us to provide a theoretical framework that will serve to interpret the Local Area Plan’s role and the elements that pertain to the greater or lesser propensity of this governance instrument to change.

Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Chapter 4. Redesigning Territorialisation to Improve Planning and Management Capabilities in Social Policy. Change or Business as Usual?

Abstract

In this chapter the reform’s attempt concerning the organization of the Local Area Plans in Lombardy will be presented. How does the regional decree 7631/2017 work? How is it structured? Which are the implications, the aims and the opportunities of this reform?

The chapter will present the way in which the Local Area Plans coped with the new regional legislative framework, how they have complied with it and how they have failed.

This analysis gives us a composite picture, which shows a large variance among Lombardy’s territories that differ from making a great push towards innovation – both in governance and policy terms – to being substantially immobile and resistant to change. This immobilism can be connected to a series of variables like a persistent resistance to change from the public administration sector, difficulty in embracing innovative practices, structural limits in governance instruments dedicated to territorial coordination, stalemate among actors (joint decision trap) and a certain “parochial” approach in inter-municipal courses of action that consider routinized procedures as the best options from which it would be a mistake to move away (path dependence).

Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Chapter 5. The Difficult Path Towards Change

Abstract

The Decree No. 7631/2017 does not represent an example of policy success because only a limited number of Local Area Plans have decided to take advantage of the opportunity of defining a new district area and move towards an aggregation. In light of the theoretical and analytical framework presented in the book, in this chapter we will try to assess and explain the conditions that have made some aggregations successful. The idea at the basis of this analysis is that there was a combination of pre-determined conditions that were fundamental to bringing about new forms of stricter and more institutionalised arrangements for inter-municipal cooperation. This empirical effort represents a useful contribution to the literature focused on the analysis of models of intermunicipal cooperation, reflecting on which are the (structural) favourable conditions that may lead towards governance changes in order to improve the degree of coordination and cooperation.

Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Chapter 6. The Road towards the New Planning Phase (2021–2023) – Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

This conclusive chapter systematizes the findings of the book and opens a reflection on the immediate future of the next planning phase (2021–2023) and on the main shortcomings and problems that undermine the possibility to obtain more integration and coordination. Drawing from the theoretical and empirical evidence gathered in the book, this chapter reflects on some viable roads useful for the next planning phase in order to provide some answers to the organizational and policy-making dilemma of the Area Local Plan and local welfare.

Pietro Previtali, Eugenio Salvati

Backmatter

Titel: Local Welfare and the Organization of Social Services
verfasst von: Pietro Previtali
Eugenio Salvati
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-66128-1
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-66127-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66128-1