The Enhancement of the Italian Territory: Alternative Financial Strategies for Small Municipalities (SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology) 3031540565, 9783031540561

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SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology

PoliMI SpringerBriefs Antonio Invernale · Marzia Morena · Tommaso Truppi

The Enhancement of the Italian Territory Alternative Financial Strategies for Small Municipalities

SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology

PoliMI SpringerBriefs Series Editors Barbara Pernici, DEIB, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Stefano Della Torre, DABC, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Bianca M. Colosimo, DMEC, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Tiziano Faravelli, DCHEM, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Roberto Paolucci, DICA, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Silvia Piardi, Design, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy Gabriele Pasqui , DASTU, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

Springer, in cooperation with Politecnico di Milano, publishes the PoliMI SpringerBriefs, concise summaries of cutting-edge research and practical applications across a wide spectrum of fields. Featuring compact volumes of 50 to 125 (150 as a maximum) pages, the series covers a range of contents from professional to academic in the following research areas carried out at Politecnico: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Antonio Invernale · Marzia Morena · Tommaso Truppi

The Enhancement of the Italian Territory Alternative Financial Strategies for Small Municipalities

Antonio Invernale Department ABC Politecnico di Milano Real Estate Center Milan, Italy

Marzia Morena Department ABC Politecnico di Milano Real Estate Center Milan, Italy

Tommaso Truppi Department ABC Politecnico di Milano Real Estate Center Milan, Italy

ISSN 2191-530X ISSN 2191-5318 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology ISSN 2282-2577 ISSN 2282-2585 (electronic) PoliMI SpringerBriefs ISBN 978-3-031-54055-4 ISBN 978-3-031-54056-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54056-1 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Paper in this product is recyclable.

Preface

Cities operate between two poles: collaboration and competition. Collaboration to face the common challenges posed by the need to pursue a sustainable development model from an environmental, social and ethical point of view. Competition on the global market to attract investments and people that are able to guarantee precisely that development (and prosperity) mentioned above. And cities must govern this competition between territories, not only at a global level but often also within the same country. In the field of real estate, on which this book mainly focuses, this means that, in a phase of limited financial availability in order to start large-scale urban redevelopment projects, Italian municipalities must be able to attract large operators of the global market in their own territory. Local Public Administrations (LPA) must therefore equip themselves with clear, streamlined and transparent procedures; must ensure reasonably certain timescales for issuing permits and authorizations; they must be able to speak the same language as the investors, so to understand their reasons and be able to negotiate favourable conditions for the city and the community as a whole. The use of alternative financial instruments that require the participation of different actors can be one of the ways to improve existing infrastructures and provide new ones, to ensure services that live up to citizens’ expectations: new forms of public-private partnership (PPP) with the direct involvement of citizens, in terms of ideas and financial contributions (public-private-people partnership PPPP) can be developed thank to new bottom-up raising funds systems, made available by modern technologies (civic crowdfunding). The topic is of particular relevance for small municipalities, which constitute a significant part of Italy and are afflicted by endemic problems, such as depopulation, ageing of the population, poor availability of essential services and territory characterized by landslide and flood hazard. These municipalities often have difficulties in accessing and managing investments. Legislative interventions seek to introduce measures in favour of the residents of small municipalities and their productive activities, in order to counteract these problems and to encourage tourism. v

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But an important contribution to the valorization of these places might come from citizens and civil society organizations. Indeed, this book presents some cases of application of civic crowdfunding to small Italian municipalities, showing not only the difficulties of these areas but also the passion they can instil. Milan, Italy

Antonio Invernale Marzia Morena Tommaso Truppi

Acknowledgements The authors would like to especially thank Clelia Silvestroni: indeed, the theme of civic crowdfunding linked to small Italian municipalities, here revised and developed according to different criteria, stems from her Master’s dissertation. In particular, this book inherits the following case studies: 4.3.1.1, 4.3.2.1, 4.4.1.2, 4.4.2.1, 4.4.2.2, 4.4.2.3, 4.4.3.1, 4.4.4.1, 4.4.4.2, 4.4.4.3, 4.4.5.1.

Contents

1 Between Competition and Cooperation: The Enhancement of the City and the Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Enhancing Cities and Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.3 ESG—Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.4 Territorial Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2 Measurement and Comparison of the Efficiency of the Permits Concession Processes of the Italian Municipalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 The Role Played by the Public Administration in Attracting Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 The Efficiency of the Licence-Issuing Procedures: Italy in the International Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Results of the Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Special Focus on Alternative Financial Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Alternative Strategies and Financial Instruments for the Enhancement of the Territory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Public Private [People] Partnership (4P) a Strategy for the Enhancement of Public Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Some Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 PP(P)P and Municipalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15 15 16 18 23 27 29 29 29 30 32

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3.2 Civic Crowdfunding: Alternative Financial Instruments for the Public Administrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Crowdfunding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Civic Crowdfunding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Role of Public Administrations in Civic Crowdfunding . . . . . 3.2.5 Civic Crowdfunding Platforms in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.6 Civic Crowdfunding Experiences in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Civic Crowdfunding and the Small Italian Municipalities . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Small Italian Municipalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 National Legislation for the Support and Enhancement of Small Municipalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 NRRP—National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR—Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza) . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Civic Crowdfunding in Small Italian Municipalities. Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Public Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 AnciCrowd “La solidarietà non trema” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Veneto Agricoltura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Other Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Cooperatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 Banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Banking Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.4 Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.5 Ecclesiastical Entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34 34 34 36 37 39 41 45 47 47 55 58 61 62 62 65 66 66 71 75 76 79 81 84

Chapter 1

Between Competition and Cooperation: The Enhancement of the City and the Territory

Abstract Urban areas and their territories are in a competitive climate, which originates in the growing internationalization of markets, production systems and society. To face these challenges, local administrations are called to become strategic entities, capable of identifying their own solid and innovative role within the international competitive landscape. A strategic planning process aimed at defining the positioning of the local economic system in the national/international context, in compliance with environmental, social and economic sustainability criteria. Keywords Enhancement of territory · Territorial marketing · Territory attractiveness

1.1 Introduction Urban areas and their reference territories, regardless of their size, now find themselves for all intents and purposes embedded in a new competitive climate that originates in the growing internationalization and globalization of markets, production systems, and society. To sustain the new competitive challenges, it is necessary not only and not so much to equip oneself with certain infrastructural elements that have become unavoidable, but also and above all with a new mentality and decisionmaking style. In this context, local governments are called upon to become strategic players, capable of identifying their own, solid, and innovative role within the international competitive landscape and pursuing it through the activation of all the resources they are able to find and all the planning energies that can be mobilized. Another major phenomenon concerns the acceleration of structural change and its territorial impact. The processes of urban deindustrialization—in the broad sense, as a reduction in the number of people employed and spaces used for industrial production—are proceeding at such a speed that their spontaneous metabolization is no longer conceivable, both in the sense of defending local collective welfare (unemployment) and efficient land management (the urban voids). The territory

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Invernale et al., The Enhancement of the Italian Territory, PoliMI SpringerBriefs, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54056-1_1

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and its governance must therefore engage in explicit intervention policies and must necessarily refer to external forces as well. A further factor that calls for new strategic planning is related to the emergence of advanced sectors, operating in the secondary and tertiary sectors, which are information-intensive and have a strong preference for a high-quality urban environment. The capture of these new activities now appears crucial to the medium- and long-term development possibilities of metropolitan areas. Strategic development planning is, by its very nature, an activity oriented toward defining the positioning of the local economic system in the national/international context and building an evolutionary scenario of the city and its territory starting from the available and activatable resources, respecting the criteria of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. At the same time, such planning is aimed at identifying the target operators toward which to direct the offer present in the area and the promotional actions necessary to reach them efficiently and effectively. A planning process of this kind has as its reference point the centrality of the territory: guidelines and strategies outline a reference matrix within which the actions to be carried out and the projects deemed most important for the enhancement of an area are ordered according to shared priorities. One of the founding elements of such a planning process is territorial marketing, understood as a set of tools activated by policy makers in the territory to reach potential investors identified on the basis of the territory’s potential and the development path to be pursued. A strategy to enhance the value of an area, in fact, can be implemented not only by focusing on existing strengths, but also by bringing out possible strengths that are today latent or not fully exploited: it is necessary to imagine the future, enhancing in the first place what exists, but also generating and giving space to innovative thrusts, capable of giving rise to a virtuous circle capable of promoting further development of the territory and ensuring and enhancing its leading role with respect to certain functions in which it has today, a competitive position, as a hub for research and technology, a place of qualified residence, a production system that combines tradition and innovation just to mention the most obvious [1]. Competition and cooperation are two fundamental forces that can shape the enhancement of cities and territories. On the one hand, competition can be a powerful driver of innovation and progress as cities and regions compete for resources, talent, and investment. On the other hand, cooperation can promote collective action, shared resources, and inclusive growth. To strike a balance between these forces, it is essential to recognize that they are not mutually exclusive. Cities and territories can compete while collaborating on projects and initiatives that benefit all stakeholders, sharing experience and knowledge. To address the common challenges of environmental sustainability and combating climate change and support each other in achieving the goals, many cities at the European and global level have come together in associations and networks. Indeed, there are numerous associations. A few are reported:

1.2 Enhancing Cities and Territory

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The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) [2] is a collaboration of leading global cities working to achieve carbon neutrality in the next 10–20 years and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). There are 21 cities joining: 7 European, non-Italian. C40 Cities [3] is certainly one of the best-known associations: a network of mayors from 96 major cities around the world (as of March 2023), launched in 2005 by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, with the goal of combating climate change and halving emissions by 2030. The distinguishing feature of C40 is to establish Leadership Standards, minimum requirements, for membership. Of the 18 European cities, two are Italian: Milan and Rome. Climate Alliance [4] is a European city network dedicated to climate action with 2000 members: municipalities and districts covering more than 25 European countries as well as a variety of regional governments, NGOs and other organisations. Italian cities and local governments are more than 100. Eurocities [5] is a network of more than 200 European cities, addressing issues of environmental sustainability, social inclusion, health, and innovation. Italy with 17 cities ranks third after France (24) and Germany (23). Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) [6] is a global alliance for city climate leadership, built upon the commitment of over 11,500 cities and local governments. Italy is present with over 4800 cities. ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability [7] is a global network of more than 2500 local and regional governments committed to sustainable urban development. Active in more than 125 countries, seeks to influence sustainability policy following 5 developments pathways (low emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development pathways). There are 8 Italian cities (as of March 2023) joining the network: Bologna, Cesena, Roma, Metropolitan City of Firenze, Municipality of Alba, Municipality of Ancona, Municipality of Assisi, Municipality of San Giuseppe Vesuviano.

1.2 Enhancing Cities and Territory In terms of enhancing cities and areas, both competition and cooperation can play an important role. Competition can stimulate innovation and investment, leading to new businesses, products and services that benefit both residents and visitors. At the same time, cooperation can facilitate the development of shared resources, such as parks, transportation systems, and cultural institutions that improve the quality of life for everyone in the community. Ultimately, the key to balancing competition and cooperation is to foster a culture of collaboration and partnership. This requires building trust and communication among stakeholders, including businesses, government, non-profits, and community groups. Working together, cities and territories can leverage their strengths, address their challenges, and create more vibrant, resilient and inclusive communities for all.

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City and land development is a process that aims to improve the attractiveness and competitiveness of an urban or rural area by increasing its economic, cultural, and environmental value. This can be achieved through a series of interventions aimed at promoting quality of life, environmental sustainability, technological innovation, accessibility, safety, culture, and heritage. Actions that can be taken to enhance the city and the area include: 1. development of infrastructure and services. The creation of efficient infrastructure, such as a good public transportation network, parks and green areas, health, and social services, can improve the quality of life for citizens and attract new economic activity; 2. urban redevelopment. Redevelopment of blighted or abandoned areas can help improve the city’s image, reduce migration to the suburbs, and create new economic opportunities; 3. environmental sustainability. The implementation of environmentally friendly policies and projects, such as waste management, energy efficiency, and the promotion of renewable sources, can reduce the city’s environmental impact and improve the quality of life for citizens; 4. promotion of tourism. Enhancing the cultural, artistic, and scenic heritage of the city and area can promote tourism, increase income, and improve the local economy; 5. technological innovation. The adoption of advanced technologies, such as highspeed Internet connectivity and digital technologies, can improve the efficiency of economic activities and enhance the quality of life of citizens; 6. social inclusion. Promoting social inclusion can improve the image of the city and the quality of life of citizens and can also attract new economic and tourism activities. It is a complex and challenging process that requires the collaboration of various stakeholders, including government departments, citizens, businesses, and civil society organizations, and if well planned and implemented, can lead to a significant improvement in the quality of life of residents. It is a process of transformation and redevelopment that aims to reduce the environmental impact of cities and focuses on the rehabilitation of brownfield, degraded or underutilized urban areas, with the aim of creating more vibrant, safe, and healthy public spaces, and fostering the economic regeneration of the areas concerned. It can include a range of interventions, including rehabilitation of existing buildings, creation of new green areas and public spaces, reduction of vehicular traffic and increase in sustainable mobility, promotion of sustainable construction and energy efficiency of buildings, and upgrading of urban services, such as waste management and water management. Urban regeneration operations involve parts of cities left in a state of neglect for a long period of time (sometimes decades) previously occupied by productive activities (factories) or infrastructure (railroad yards) that have been relocated to other locations or have permanently ceased operations.

1.3 ESG—Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria

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Often these areas are within the city, relatively close to the city centre. Formerly peripheral areas that housed activities that had become incompatible with the hygienic, environmental, and functional needs of the city, or activities put out of play by the transition from an industrial to a predominantly tertiary economy, or even areas that no longer met production needs (need for more space, for different production spaces). These areas remained abandoned for a very long time and represented a kind of caesura, a tear within the urban fabric. Off-limits, degraded, dangerous areas, often characterized by heavy environmental liabilities due to previous industrial/ production use in eras when respect for the environment enjoyed little consideration. The issue of redevelopment of former industrial areas is certainly not a recent one, but today these areas represent an opportunity for a transformation of the city that is more respectful of environmental and social needs. These are globally widespread issues as evidenced by initiatives such as Reinventing Cities.1 These regeneration operations make it possible to restore connections between the neighbourhood and the city, to assign a new centrality to public spaces, which must not only be built, but also cared for and managed, so that they do not themselves become abandoned spaces, to increase the liveability of the neighbourhood, thanks to new public functions, attention to the comfort and well-being of interior spaces, and the quality of architecture. Returning these areas to urban life and citizen enjoyment is not easy and is expensive; it requires technical and managerial skills, commitment and vision, creativity, and the courage to take risks. Municipal governments generally do not have the necessary funds for rehabilitation, nor can they take charge of all blighted areas. The intervention of the private sector with its know-how and, of course, also its goals can often be decisive.

1.3 ESG—Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria The issue of the redevelopment of former industrial areas began to arise at the time of the transition from industrial to tertiary society. Today, however, urban regeneration operations are evaluated through the increasingly popular paradigm of ESG criteria— Environmental, Social and Governance. These criteria testify to the growing consideration among operators and investors of all those factors, related to a company’s investment and management decisions, that may have an impact on the environment (e.g., waste, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, land consumption), social and ethical issues (inclusiveness, community spill over) and governance (transparency, organization and composition of the corporate management structure, way of managing and treating people). 1

Reinventing Cities is a global competition led by C40 Cities, in which cities identify areas that are underutilized and can be transformed through projects developed by multidisciplinary teams as examples of environmental sustainability [8].

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The financial sustainability of an investment transaction, although a sine qua non, must, therefore, be accompanied by the sustainability represented by ESG criteria. The impact of urban regeneration operations on these areas will be highlighted below. Environmental and social aspects are particularly related to the impact of real estate investment on the territory, the city, and its community. Governance aspects, on the other hand, put the modus operandi and transparency in the management of such interventions by the operator under the spotlight. Environmental The environmental sustainability features associated with urban regeneration operations are evident. Indeed, such operations generally involve the remediation of city sites heavily polluted by the activities of former industrial settlements. They are costly and timeconsuming operations that allow otherwise unusable land that could be a source of further pollution to be reclaimed. Thanks to this reclamation, the new project often requires no consumption of new land. In addition, the environmental sustainability of new buildings is often certified, from the design to the construction phase, by third-party bodies recognized worldwide (LEED, BREAAM, etc.). Renovated buildings meet the latest regulations on energy consumption, pollutant gas emissions and use of renewable energy (NZEB buildings—Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings). Urban regeneration operations are accompanied by the creation and/or protection of green areas, made accessible and well maintained, not only in compliance with the fulfilments related to urbanization charges, but also as an explicit added value of the project and contribution to the liveability of the neighbourhood for all residents. Social The characteristics of social sustainability of urban regeneration interventions emerge when we look at the contribution of order and quality brought by the renovated spaces: areas that would otherwise be off-limits, dangerous, are made accessible again to the citizenry and reclaimed for the city. The neighbourhood is enriched with new commercial spaces, new functions, and public works, not only for the fulfilments due from the urbanization charges (schools, kindergartens, parking lots, lighting, new squares, streets, bike paths and green areas that are opened to the city), but also to give centrality to the public space. These spaces, in fact, become a reference point for the citizens of the new settlement and surrounding neighbourhoods, making the area livelier and busier. When the redeveloped areas are occupied by productive properties (tertiary, handicrafts, or laboratories compatible with urban functions) there are positive spill overs in the neighbouring area also in social and economic terms.

1.3 ESG—Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria

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In addition, the outcome of the intervention is a response to the demands and needs of the real estate market for new, more modern, and updated types, and this increases the attractiveness of the city. Long-abandoned areas, unproductive from every point of view, indeed carrying liabilities for the entire community, return to make their contribution to the city. It should not be underestimated that sometimes urban regeneration operations, especially major ones, bring with them phenomena of gentrification with related increases in property prices and rents and phenomena of social replacement. Much can be done to safeguard the soul of a neighbourhood, preserving its signs and traces of the past, much can be done, in agreement with public administrations, collaborating in transparency to identify urbanization works and actions that can mitigate this phenomenon and find solutions for the most disadvantaged social groups. Social housing, in this sense, is often present in urban regeneration operations as a tool capable of responding to the demand for housing at sustainable rental costs, particularly by young couples and families unable to access the free market. Governance The governance criterion concerns the enterprise itself: the operator is placed under the magnifying glass. Sometimes real estate operators/investors do not enjoy a good reputation; there are many reasons for this, and they are related to the presence of some unprofessional operators in the market: improvisation, predatory attitude, poor quality of construction artefacts, poor compliance with rules, abandoned construction sites… just to name a few critical issues. The presence of institutional investors has raised the level of standards in the real estate and construction sector in terms of organization, construction, and legal, contributing to an improvement in the situation: technical and managerial know-how, the ability to meet deadlines and spending budgets (as foundational prerequisites of the success of the real estate operation), without endless or worse abandoned construction sites (with the consequent social, economic and environmental repercussions on the city). Even amid understandable difficulties and slowdowns, these companies managed to carry on construction sites during the global SARS-COV19 pandemic with commitment and determination. Their activities cascade to other companies, other carefully chosen partners in the market. In addition, these companies are subject to scrutiny by supervisory bodies and agencies (e.g., CONSOB); they are accountable to stakeholders (banks, shareholders, co-investors, partners) for financial aspects, but also for environmental, social and governance aspects. Their projects may be subject to a public evidence phase and public comments. Critical issues in urban regeneration interventions generally concern aspects related to the timing of administrative procedures. These are sensitive aspects for investors because they can profoundly affect the financial success of the operation in the face of not insignificant investments. The expectations of these operators can be summarized as follows:

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• Reduction of authorization timelines pertaining to the administrative (urban planning-building) process. • Certainty of project approval times. • Clarity of the administrative process and limits to the discretion of individual local governments. • More agile, streamlined, and effective procedures. • Limitations on constraints and variants introduced during construction by new planning instruments and legislative innovations (slowdowns due to interpretative uncertainties). • Support in communicating and sharing projects with the local community. Relations with the public administration can be marked by a collaborative spirit, active dialogue, and mutual transparency; mediation between public vision and private investment must contribute to the improvement of urban quality. There must be clarity of purpose and choice on the part of the public administration, aimed at guiding developments of an environmental, social, cultural, and economic nature.

1.4 Territorial Marketing The globalization process that has characterized post-industrial development has led to a fundamental change in economic relations between regions, countries and economic interest groups, shifting the level of competition from individual companies, to production systems and the territories that host and support them so much so that globalization on the one hand and the development of local economies on the other are now the two terms of the dialectic that characterizes the dynamics within which the game of competitiveness is played. The continuous development of the means of communication then allows an increasing number of companies, including small and medium-sized ones, to pursue competitive strategies even in markets far away from their territory of origin, activating, in an increasingly broader panorama, the engine of economic interdependencies [9]. In the current economic context, two facts have become fundamental, forcing Italian local systems to face their implications as well: socioeconomic attractiveness and competitiveness of the local productive fabric, two phenomena that are entirely complementary even if still not always associated and, at least the former, still little explored as an object measurement of different attractiveness potentials. In general terms, competitiveness can be defined as the ability of firms and of a territory to make efficient use of the endowment of factors at their disposal (understood both in terms of natural resources of physical capital and human capital). Competitiveness thus has to do with the set of factors that enable economic development both internally and externally. Attractiveness, on the other hand, can be defined as the ability of a given economic system to attract and retain people and

1.4 Territorial Marketing

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capital, favouring the location of productive activities. Attractiveness and competitiveness, while not overlapping, are thus two strongly complementary concepts: an increase in the attractiveness of the territory favours the location of productive activities and naturally sets the conditions for competitiveness to develop as well. On the other hand, a competitive territory is dynamic and, therefore, also attractive to both businesses and people. A further effect of globalization is manifested in the increasingly pronounced competition that has cities and their metropolitan areas, which have now become the major driving forces of global development, as the main players. Thus, there is competition among different metropolises to attract public and private investment, intelligence and knowledge, major events, and cultural happenings. Hence the need for the policies of Public Administrations, engaged in the governance of urban areas, to express a characteristic of strong entrepreneurship that accompanies cities and their territories within the globalization process, in which they must take on new tasks and objectives to face new responsibilities and to implement new policies that will depend on actors different from the past or at least renewed, each of which has limited powers of intervention and highly dependent on the action of others. The urban space is transformed into a place of great potential where intelligence is enhanced, where social and cultural differences are sought to gain strength, where the decisions that are made have global reach, where development and enhancement pass through the ability to relate to the entire planet. The goal of territorial marketing is to be able to accomplish these operations to change cities and territories, making them competitive and attractive. Knowing the territory on which one would like to operate represents for any operator/entrepreneur a primary necessity and a fundamental preparatory element with respect to the realization of any investment. Having organic and exhaustive information on the reality of the territory and development opportunities, having a greater connection with the institutions that are responsible for planning and controlling the use of the territory as well as the possibility of knowing the institutional programs within the territory represent indispensable elements for any investment and localization decision by entrepreneurial subjects. For Administrations to prepare territorial marketing actions then becomes an indispensable prerogative not only as a tool for knowledge of the territory, but also a factor for being able to convey to qualified investors opportunities otherwise difficult to identify. The adoption of marketing tools is also dictated by the need to streamline the many procedures that an investor must face to operate in Italy: transparency and knowledge are elements that can contribute significantly to reducing the “investment risk” for foreign operators. All this leads our country to be the tail end, among comparable nations in the European Union, in the ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (Fig. 1.1).2 2

“Foreign direct investment are the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest (10 percent or more of voting stock) in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, other long-term capital,

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1 Between Competition and Cooperation: The Enhancement of the City …

Fig. 1.1 Inward net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows as % of GDP (Authors’ elaboration based on data of The World Bank [10])

The enlargement in a global sense of the localization horizons of companies has put not only the different countries, but also their different territories, in the condition of having to compete to attract and maintain productive investments, which translate into increases in employment, a growth in local incomes, and an overall support for territorial development processes [11]. Hence the need to prepare suitable quantitative and qualitative tools capable of constantly monitoring the level of competitiveness of territorial economic systems, to be able to intervene in a timely and effective manner in the implementation of all those interventions that allow to maintain and strengthen the conditions of development. All this makes the policies defined at the national level less and less adequate, putting in the foreground the choices made at the local level [12]. The plurality of actors concurring in the design, financing and implementation of real estate operations will have to do so by imprinting their actions on strict ethical norms devoted to environmental respect and sustainability, to the cultural enhancement of the city while respecting its historical roots but keeping in mind the dynamics of urban and economic development [13]. In short, focusing only on attracting businesses without trying to improve the infrastructural fabric, old and new architecture, and resources available in the area, would represent a failure of territorial marketing. Among the new factors that on a European scale facilitate the location of high value-added and high growth rate activities, two key aspects should certainly be considered:

and short-term capital as shown in the balance of payments.” Net inflows are new investment inflows less disinvestment (The World Bank) [10].

1.4 Territorial Marketing

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• the hardware that is, the location factors related to the presence or absence of infrastructure for accessibility, high quality human resources, an efficient Public Administration, etc. • The software consisting of those factors related to quality of life such as environmental/settlement quality and social cohesion. Cities and territories are increasingly being evaluated by professionals with respect to the criteria that most influence their investment decisions. Below are some reports that focus on the competition between cities. • The consulting firm PwC with Urban Land Institute conducts an annual survey, compiled in the report Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Europe which in 2022 was based on personal interviews with 1,038 real estate professionals [14]. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of different factors that may influence the decision to invest in a particular city. The ratings ranged from “Very important,” “Somewhat important,” “Neither important nor unimportant,” and “Not at all important.” Figure 1.2 shows the different factors with the sum of the percentages of responses related to “Very important” and “Somewhat important” judgments. The aspect considered most important is the city’s infrastructure endowment (Macro transport connectivity - international, national, and local). This is followed by factors more related to economic aspects: city‘s economic performance, forecasted real estate returns, market size and liquidity, availability of assets/opportunities for new development. In the middle of the list, with 85%, we find regulatory environment and attractiveness to talent. • The consulting firm Kearney produces an annual ranking of global cities, the Global Cities Index (GCI), which measures the ability of cities to attract and retain global capital, people, and ideas [15]. The Global Cities Index (GCI) seeks to assess the competitiveness of 156 cities across five dimensions: business activity,

Fig. 1.2 Importance of factors for selecting a city for real estate investment or development in Europe (percentage of “Very important” and “Somewhat important” answers) (Authors’ elaboration based on data PwC and the Urban Land Institute [14])

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human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. Some of the factors considered (metrics) to measure these areas are capital flow, market dynamics, education levels, access to information, cultural and entertainment opportunities, presence of international organizations, and embassies. The top four cities in the GCI are the same for the sixth consecutive year: New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. The only two Italian cities included are Roma (40th place) and Milano (46th place), both of which lose two positions compared to 2021. • The Digital Cities Index (DCI), developed by Economist Impact [16] and supported by NEC, is based on four key pillars of digital connectivity, services, culture, and sustainability in order to assess the level of digitisation in 30 global cities. The top-performing cities are Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Beijing, London and Seoul. The only Italian city included is Roma, ranked 21st. • Limiting itself to the Italian sphere, EY [17] compiles a Human Smart City Index, which includes 456 indicators, three survey areas (digital, environmental sustainability and social dynamics) to determine the “readiness” of cities and the behaviors of city users. The top five cities are: Milano, Bologna, Torino, Trento, and Parma. The first southern city is Cagliari 19th, followed in 34th place by Napoli. Cities and territories communicate themselves through different channels with the aim of promoting their characteristics to attract people, activities and services. The ability to attract investment must be made explicit through tools that can foster dialogue between subjects coming from different worlds; thus, the knowledge of one’s own territory, the ability to identify indicators capable of representing its characteristics, and the ability to communicate with the outside world become elements capable of determining the success of an area or an entire region [11]. The primary task and responsibility for guiding the process of redevelopment and development lies with the Local Public Administration [18]: cities that can plan their own development and redevelopment must implement marketing tools to communicate their objectives to the world of investors, in the appropriate forms and places. This process is a key step in aggregating the resources of their area, creating shared expectations, a strong identity of the area, putting themselves in a position to first inform and then stimulate the attraction of national and international direct investment. Among the different types of investment, of particular importance is real estate investment, which has a decisive function in the renewal of the urban fabric and its qualification in terms of functionality and, architectural and urban quality. The ease with which it is now possible to transfer resources and people to locate them in the most suitable places increases the level of competition between territories, bringing with it other phenomena, including: • the growing need to express a clear and communicable positioning; • the increased specialization of territories; • the increased need for territorial marketing activities;

1.4 Territorial Marketing

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• the possibility for winning territories to see their prosperity rapidly increase, but also the risk for less attractive territories to see their prosperity rapidly decrease: a 2015 report of the World Bank Group highlighted that, out of 750 analysed cities, the top 5% of cities obtained as much Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as the bottom 95% combined [19]; • the high difficulty for Western cities to compete on overall costs and in low value-added sectors [20]. But being able to activate investment also means making available to potential investors information and certainty about the timeframe for obtaining the necessary permits. Any investment, and therefore also real estate investment, which is often the indispensable premise for any economic activity, requires careful planning of all variables and especially of the temporal one: a time slip can in fact make an investment non-performing. Without this “certainty,” investors are unlikely to proceed in their business and run the risk of seeing their efforts and the financial resources gathered in the market go in vain. The ability of Local Public Administrations (LPAs) to offer information and “certainty” about the timing of the necessary authorizations is therefore a diriment element for the investment attractiveness of a given territory [18]. Large real estate investments in the tourist-accommodation field, in the advanced tertiary sector, in new industrial properties housing high value-added productions, and in leading commercial activities can give an extraordinary boost to the development-redevelopment of a given territory. To achieve this, however, it is indispensable for the LPAs to be able to launch projects of adequate size and complexity, to move out of a narrow local dimension, to open to the world of the globalized economy, and at the same time to offer guarantees on the administrative time required to obtain permits. The overall functionality of an LPA thus plays a decisive role in promoting its territory and is itself a contributing element in determining the attractiveness and competitiveness of that particular context. The overall functionality of an LPA can be broken down into three important moments/stages: • Ability to develop complex projects of significant size and therefore with a strong impact on the territory as a whole in terms of sustainable development and redevelopment. • Capacity to communicate its objectives and opportunities and thus the level/ quality of the territorial marketing tools developed. • Administrative capacity to process, within defined timeframes, authorization processes. Creating in the minds of investors an image of the territory/territorial offer that is as attractive as possible in terms of profitable investments is an unavoidable action to win the competition: it is an operation that, in marketing language, is called positioning of both the territory and the territorial offer that it expresses. Positioning has, indeed, the function of highlighting in the investor’s decision-making process

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the cultural connotations of the territory (tradition, history, culture, hospitality, etc.) combined with those advantages inherent in the territorial offer that differentiate it from the offer of competitors.

References 1. Morena M (2012) Promuovere, valorizzare e riqualificare la città e il territorio, Maggioli, Santarcangelo di Romagna 2. The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA). https://carbonneutralcities.org/. Accessed 17 Mar 2023 3. C40 Cities. www.c40.org. Accessed 17 Mar 2023 4. Climate Alliance. https://www.climatealliance.org/home.html. Accessed 21 Jul 2023 5. Eurocities. https://eurocities.eu/. Accessed 17 Mar 2023 6. Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM). https://www.globalcovenantofma yors.org/. Accessed 20 Mar 2023 7. ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability. https://iclei.org/. Accessed 20 Mar 2023 8. Reinventing Cities. https://www.c40reinventingcities.org/. Accessed 12 Oct 2023 9. Micossi S (1997) La via dell’Unione Europea verso un sistema commerciale globale e aperto. In: Arcelli M (ed) Globalizzazione dei mercati e orizzonti del capitalismo. Laterza, Roma-Bari 10. The World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. Accessed 24 Mar 2023 11. Baiardi L, Morena M (2009) Marketing territoriale. Il Sole 24 ORE, Milano 12. Del Colle E (2006) Tecnopoli. L’articolazione territoriale della competitività in Italia. F. Angeli, Milano 13. Biondini L (2003) Etica ed Estetica nello sviluppo immobiliare. Atti del Convegno, November 14. PwC and the Urban Land Institute (2022). Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Europe 2023. PwC and the Urban Land Institute, London. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/financialservices/real-estate/emerging-trends-real-estate/europe-2023.html. Accessed 13 Mar 2023 15. Kearney (2022) Readiness for the storm: the 2022 Global Cities Report. https://www.kearney. com/global-cities/2022. Accessed 16 Mar 2023 16. Economist Impact (2022) Digital Cities Index 2022. Making digital work for cities: a global benchmark of urban technology. https://impact.economist.com/projects/digital-cities/2022-exe cutive-summary/. Accessed 27 Mar 2023 17. EY (2022) Human Smart City Index 2022. https://www.ey.com/it_it/workforce/la-citta-del-fut uro-e-digitalizzata-sostenibile-e-inclusiva. Accessed 27 Mar 2023 18. OPPAL (2011) Osservatorio sulla Pubblica Amministrazione Locale. L’efficienza dei processi concessori. Il Sole 24 ORE, Milano 19. Kilroy AFL, Mukim M, Negri S (2015) Competitive cities for jobs and growth: what, who, and how. World Bank Group, Washington, DC. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/902 411467990995484/Competitive-cities-for-jobs-and-growth-what-who-and-how. Accessed 27 Mar 2023 20. Comune di Milano (2007) Direzione Centrale Turismo, Marketing Territoriale, Identità, Documento di posizionamento strategico della città di Milano, November

Chapter 2

Measurement and Comparison of the Efficiency of the Permits Concession Processes of the Italian Municipalities

Abstract The Permanent Observatory on Local Public Administrations (Osservatorio Permanente sulle Pubblica Amministrazione Locale—OPPAL) survey aims at verifying the efficiency of the licence-issuing procedures applied by the Local Public Administration (LPA) in Italy. The goal is to promote transparency about times of approval of concession processes, as elements that determine the attractiveness of a territory for potential investors. The results of the questionnaire addressed to the Public Administrations are conveyed in a report, which is also characterized each year by a different in-depth theme on a specific sector. In the XIII Report 2020, in-depth analysis was dedicated to the topic of alternative financial instruments, including civic crowdfunding. Keywords Italian Local Public Administration · Building permits procedures · Alternative financial instruments

2.1 The Role Played by the Public Administration in Attracting Investment Public institutions cultivate a huge interest in the enhancement of the value of the territory they govern. To this aim they have designed some tools that communicate their objectives and opportunities to the world of investors. This process is crucial in order to gather the resources of a territory, creating a strong identity, and to attract domestic and international investors. To implement urban development policies means to start a long, complex process that requires preliminary considerations by the Local Administrations, so to define a medium-long term strategy and maximise all the factors for success. In the recent years the management approach to the public sector has gradually changed. This new approach, called “New Public Management”, began its development in the 1990s. It consists in implementing the typical management principles and techniques of the private sector by the public administrations, and in the management of all the realities that revolve around PAs, territory included [1].

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Invernale et al., The Enhancement of the Italian Territory, PoliMI SpringerBriefs, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54056-1_2

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The role played by local and territorial agencies is regarded as strategic when planning the development and the re-development of the territory, for two basic reasons: • they have the task of implementing those territorial marketing tools that may communicate their goals and opportunities to the world of investors, in the right way and places [2]; • they are the reference agency for investors in their efforts to carry out their investment and determine the feasibility conditions of the same. In other words, in order to truly implement a local development project, public institutions must create the conditions necessary for a real estate investment that proves useful for territory development purposes. This can be achieved by defining actions that streamline bureaucratic processes, and cancel all uncertainties in the procedures aimed at determining investment feasibility. Investing in real estate, be it vacant areas for new buildings or redevelopment projects, be it buildings suitable for renovation or changeover to new use, signifies the start of a permission-issuance procedure with the local agencies that may prove extremely complex, costly and time-consuming in some cases. Public Administrations’ ability in responding to investors in a short time by preparing all the required authorization documents is a prerequisite for investment attraction. The processes and times leading to project approval are an important efficiency parameter for the Public Administration, and one of the major context requirements specified by would-be investors. This is based on the consideration that economy requires perfect synchronicity between the decision-making time and the figures that the calculation is based on; while uncertainty concerning the outcome of PA bureaucratic procedures sharpens the risks considered during the decisionmaking process. The risk in these cases is to see investors allocate their capitals to other areas on the domestic territory or abroad, and see the likely opportunities for economic and social development and growth vanish.

2.2 The Efficiency of the Licence-Issuing Procedures: Italy in the International Scenario Many reports related to territorial competitiveness issues showed that Italy is less attractive than other countries because of Public Administration’s bureaucratic inefficiency. LPAs’ efficiency heavily weighs on the choice to invest or not in a country and how; in Italy, investments are too often discouraged because of our slow and complex bureaucratic procedures. The extremely time-consuming and uncertain procedures followed by the LPAs in Italy, as compared to other countries, is a well-known burden. The IMD World Competitiveness Rankings [3] provides an extensive coverage of 64 economies. Italy ranks much lower than we would expect considering that its development stage allows it to be part of the G7: it ranks 41. In the last available

2.2 The Efficiency of the Licence-Issuing Procedures: Italy …

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edition of “Doing Business 2020” by the World Bank Group [4] comparing business regulation, administrative issues and procedures that can hinder or ease business, Italy ranked 58 out of 190 economies. Permanent Observatory on Local Public Administrations (OPPAL): A Monitoring Tool on the Efficiency of Concession Processes The Permanent Observatory on Local Public Administrations (OPPAL), set up within the Architecture, Built environment and Construction engineering Department (ABC) of Politecnico di Milano, deals with the efficiency of the licence-issuing procedures applied by the Local Public Administration (LPA) in Italy to attract investment. The relevance of this industry in the Italian scenario and its repercussions on the territory impose an adequate insight of LPAs’ ability to support this system and make it competitive internationally. The Observatory research had two goals: 1. for Public Administrations it represents an opportunity to promote their own territory through the disclosure and transparency of the practices adopted in the procedures of transformation and territorial enhancement, also in order to attract investments; 2. for real estate investors (national and international) it constitutes a useful support for defining their own strategic investment choices. The research work was based on the answers to a questionnaire administered to the Italian Municipal Authorities that govern a chief town of a province. These cities are representative of the wide scenario of local administrative bodies ruling the real estate industry in Italy. The survey focused on the town-planning and building procedures implemented in the largest Italian municipalities, and it studied the issue of the efficiency of permit-granting procedures by analysing: • the time requirement and the method applied to issue town-planning and building permits; • the charges for primary and secondary urbanization works; • the monetization of “standards”. The survey studied two different aspects that influence the real estate development process: • Town planning: i.e., the information on the methods and the time requirement to issue town-planning licenses (certificate of town-planning destination—Certificato di Destinazione Urbanistica—CDU, town-planning implementation tools, modifications) and on their relevant quantities, e.g., number of town-planning practices managed in the year of reference of the survey. • Building activities: they are assessed to determine the methods and the time requirements to approve building applications (building permits, commencement reporting—Segnalazione Certificata di Inizio Attività—S.C.I.A., the cost

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of primary and second urbanization charges, the amount of charges as compared to the cost of building, monetization of the “standards”).

2.3 Results of the Survey Over the Observatory’s activity, LPAs have demonstrated a good interest and have actively joined the survey. After 2008, when the survey started, participating LPAs were 24, 2009 and 2013 were the years with the highest adhesion (58 LPAs joined in 2009 and 60 in 2013). In 2015 the minimum level of participation was registered with 33 LPAs. In the last 5 years the average was 44 participants (40 in 2021) (Fig. 2.1). Generally, LPAs from Northern Italy have demonstrated a higher level of participation and constancy for the survey (Fig. 2.2 and Table 2.1). The comparison of current data with those of surveys carried out in past years allows us to evaluate the changes that have occurred in Italy over this period. The timing related to the release of the Urban Planning Certificate (Certificato di Destinazione Urbanistica CDU), after having remained substantially unchanged over the previous 3 years (12/13 days), has increased again (17 days) (Fig. 2.3). There has been a slight but steady decline in the time frame for the approval of an implementation planning instrument over the last few years (from 9 months in 2012 to 7 months in 2020) (Fig. 2.4). The time that passes between the submission of an application for a building permit and its release or denial remains constant and in line with the average calculated starting from 2007 with 87 days (Fig. 2.5).

Fig. 2.1 Participation in the research of LPAs: 2008–2021 (Data elaboration by the Authors)

2.3 Results of the Survey Fig. 2.2 Percentage of adhesion of the analysed sample in 2021 survey (Data elaboration by the Authors)

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Northern Italy 53%

Central Italy 27%

Southern Italy 24%

Table 2.1 Participation of LPA in the research: 2008a –2021 (Data elaboration by the Authors) x

a In the first edition of the survey (2008) the number of involved LPA was 28; the selection concerned

only LPAs that are seat of a Regional Administrative Court

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Fig. 2.3 Time to issue the Urban Planning Certificate (Certificato di Destinazione Urbanistica CDU): data comparison 2007–2020 (days) (Data elaboration by the Authors)

Fig. 2.4 Time of approval of an implementation planning instrument: data comparison 2007–2020 (months) (Data elaboration by the Authors)

The average number of applications for the release of the building permit (new construction and renovation) has registered a steady decline from 2007 to 2020, going from an average of about 1400 applications in 2007 to only 95 in 2020 (Fig. 2.6). From the data and from Fig. 2.7 it emerges that both primary and secondary urbanization costs, in the thirteen years of analysis, are on average higher in Northern Italy than in Central and Southern Italy.

2.3 Results of the Survey

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Fig. 2.5 Time to issue a building permit (days): data comparison 2007–2020 (Data elaboration by the Authors)

Fig. 2.6 Average number of building permits issued: data comparison 2007–2020 (Data elaboration by the Authors)

The comparison shows that in the North, starting from 2011, there has been a reduction in the amounts of both primary and secondary urbanization charges. In the Centre there is a more constant trend on average for both primary and secondary urbanization costs.

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Fig. 2.7 The costs of primary and secondary urbanization from 2007 to today (e/m3 ) divided by Northern, Central and Southern Italy (Data elaboration by the Authors)

In the South, primary urbanization costs are on average slightly higher than in the Centre (also for the peaks of 2015, 2016 and 2020), while those of secondary urbanization are on average the lowest among the three areas. The research also investigated the issue of territorial competitiveness as regards the ability to attract international operators. From the answers provided by the LPAs interviewed (Fig. 2.8) it emerged that in 80% of cases the interventions are entrusted to local companies, a slight decrease compared to 2020 in which a percentage of 82% was recorded. The participation of national companies increased slightly, from 16 to 18%; international companies remained stable with 2% of operators active in the municipal area. In conclusions the research saw the participation of 40 municipalities; a number slightly increasing compared to the previous edition of the report (38), however important, given the persisting exceptional conditions due to the Covid-19 pandemic that also characterized 2020. The most significant issues addressed in the research concerned the times of Public Administrations:

Fig. 2.8 Main operators active in the municipal area (Data elaboration by the Authors)

2.4 Special Focus on Alternative Financial Instruments

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• the Certificate of Urban Planning (CDU) is issued on average in 17 days (an increase compared to the previous 5 years—average of approximately 12.5 days); • the approval of an Implementation Plan takes on average about 7 months (slightly down compared to 2019); • the average time that elapses between the submission of an application for a building permit and its release or denial is 87 days (compared to 81 days in 2019). • As regards the issue of planning and building permits, we have that: – the average number of Implementation Urban Plans per Municipality (Piani Attuativi) is 6, as in 2019; – building permits for new construction issued per municipality are on average 55, down from 69 in 2019, as well as permits for renovations (35 vs. 59).

2.4 Special Focus on Alternative Financial Instruments One of the specific questionnaires carried out in recent years (2020) investigated the knowledge and use by municipalities of some alternative financial instruments (green bonds, social bonds and sustainability bonds) and civic crowdfunding. Data Analysis A total of 23 municipalities replied to that questionnaire. None of these resorted to green, social or sustainability bonds, while only Firenze had an ongoing civic crowdfunding experience, activated in donation mode (Figs. 2.9 and 2.10). Among the municipalities that expressed an opinion about the possible usefulness of these tools, a total of 42% considered them of little use. The initiatives they might be useful for are listed in the following Table 2.2. As regards the advantages of using these tools (Figs. 2.11 and 2.12), we find “raising awareness of environmental and social issues” for the bonds, and “community involvement” for the civic crowdfunding. Fig. 2.9 Has the municipality ever used any of these alternative financial instruments? (Data elaboration by the Authors)

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Fig. 2.10 Do you think these tools can be useful for your municipality? (Data elaboration by the Authors)

Table 2.2 What kind of initiatives could these tools be useful for? (Data elaboration by the Authors) Green bond Urban forestation and adaptation measures

1

Forestry planting/replanting1Redevelopment of municipal-owned properties in accordance with regional, national and international standards or certificates

1

Social bond Job creation

1

Cultural initiatives

1

Ensuring the right to housing, public housing renovation

1

Sustainability bond Urban forestation, resilient infrastructures

1

Energy production from renewable sources

1

Public housing redevelopment

1

Civic crowdfunding Commerce/electronic money

1

Investments of general interest

1

Projects of interest to the community, post-crisis economic support

1

Realization of public utility works

1

Among the difficulties/limitations in the use of these tools, both for bonds and civic crowdfunding, the main answer was “Bureaucratic difficulties” (Figs. 2.13 and 2.14). It is possible to summarize as follows the most significant data with respect to the LPAs that filled in, albeit partially, the questionnaire:

2.4 Special Focus on Alternative Financial Instruments

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Fig. 2.11 Advantages of using green, social and sustainability bond (more than one answer was possible) (Data elaboration by the Authors)

Fig. 2.12 Advantages of using civic crowdfunding (more than one answer was possible) (Data elaboration by the Authors)

• these alternative financial instruments are not widespread: only the Municipality of Firenze had an ongoing civic crowdfunding experience; • LPAs were equally divided on the usefulness of these tools (49% considered them to be of little or no use at all, 51% from quite useful to very useful); • among the difficulties/limitations identified in the use of these tools, we find the bureaucratic difficulties, the difficulties in managing the tool and the lack of knowledge by citizens of this type of tools;

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Fig. 2.13 Difficulties/limitations in the use of green, social and sustainability bonds (more than one answer was possible) (Data elaboration by the Authors)

Fig. 2.14 Difficulties/limitations in the use of civic crowdfunding (more than one answer was possible) (Data elaboration by the Authors)

• among the advantages, the opportunity to raise awareness towards environmental and social issues, in the case of bonds, and the involvement of the community for the civic crowdfunding; • only 3 municipalities intended to use these tools for environmental, economic and cultural support projects in the near future.

References

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References 1. Lane JE (2000) The public sector: concepts, models and approaches. Sage, London 2. Latusi S (2002) Marketing territoriale per gli investimenti. Egea, Milano 3. The IMD World Competitiveness Rankings (2021). https://www.imd.org/centers/world-compet itiveness-center/rankings/world-competitiveness/. Accessed 4 May 2022 4. World Bank Group, Doing Business 2020. https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/businessenabling-environment/doing-business-legacy. Accessed 4 May 2022

Chapter 3

Alternative Strategies and Financial Instruments for the Enhancement of the Territory

Abstract Cities are experiencing financial difficulties, with limited funds for public works and many bureaucratic limitations in the allocation of public money. Public Administrations must identify different way to collect additional resources to finance a sustainable cities development and the enhancement of built environment. Innovative alternative financial instruments as civic crowdfunding could serve as tools to solve this critical situation and support the public authorities in implementing public projects, through transparent decision-making process, giving citizens the opportunity to participate in the protection and development of the territories. Keywords Public Private Partnership · Civic crowdfunding

3.1 Public Private [People] Partnership (4P) a Strategy for the Enhancement of Public Properties 3.1.1 Introduction One of the problems of public administration is providing funds to carry out public works and provide public utility services. Among the most used alternative finance instruments is the Public–Private Partnership PPP. In general, the PPP can be used in all those cases in which the public sector intends to carry out a project of public utility, whose design, construction, management and financing—in whole or in part—are entrusted to the private sector [1, 2]. The Public–Private Partnership (PPP) includes a wide range of cooperation models between the public and private sectors. It is a tool that sees a renewed interest thanks to the local investments envisaged by the NRPP National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR—Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza)—see Sect. 4.1.2. The private sector provides its managerial, commercial and innovative capabilities in the design, financing, construction and management of public utility infrastructures, obtaining an economic return through the management phase of the asset thanks to the cash flows generated. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Invernale et al., The Enhancement of the Italian Territory, PoliMI SpringerBriefs, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54056-1_3

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The public sector can optimize the use of available public resources by improving the country’s infrastructure and offering the provision of public services. One of the characterizing elements of the PPP is the allocation of risks, identifying the most suitable entity to bear their effects. Generally, the risks transferred to the private operator are: construction risk (the completion of the investment must be according to the times and characteristics established in the contract); availability risk (the work must be fully usable for the entire duration of the contract); operational risk (the expected qualitative and quantitative level of service must be ensured for the entire duration of the contract). The works built through PPP can be divided into three different typologies based on their payment mechanism. The private party can be paid by collecting fees from service users, by the government, or by a combination of the two. In Italy the first kind, user-pays PPPs, is called “opere calde” (hot works): these works are related to infrastructures, such as motorways or car parks, in which the return on investment occurs through the payment of tolls or tariffs paid by the users of the infrastructure. The second kind, government-pays PPPs, is called “opere fredde” (cold works) or social infrastructures: these concern the construction and renovation of schools and hospitals and similar buildings. The operator is repaid for the investment by payments made by the Public Administration once the work has been completed, tested and made available. The full payment of the fee will in any case be linked to the quality of the service provided in the management phase. The third mixed kind is called “opere tiepide” (lukewarm works): in these initiatives revenues obtained from the users are insufficient to generate adequate economic returns, capable of repaying the work, but their implementation generates positive externalities for the community and for this reason they can access public contributions.

3.1.2 Some Data The use of PPP is widespread and regulated at different levels: the EPEC (European PPP Expertise Center) analysed PPP operations in 2022 in the EU-27 countries, the United Kingdom, Türkiye and countries of the Western Balkans (with a value of at least e10 million); this analysis is useful to get some indications about the use of this tool [3]. In these countries the value of total transactions amounted to e9.8 billion, a 17% increase from 2021 (e8.4 billion) for 45 projects concluded with an average value of e217 million. These are values recovering after the collapse due to the pandemic. France was the largest Public–Private Partnership market in Europe both in terms of value, with a total of e4.2 billion, and of number of projects (21). Italy was sixth in terms of value (below half a billion euro) with two projects.

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The sector that collected the greatest number of financings was transport (over 5 billion euros) followed by defence, environment, education, healthcare, telecommunications and, recreation and culture. Italy More specifically at an Italian level, the PPP contracts monitored by ISTAT [4], from 2010 to 2022, were 70, divided by sector as follows: 35 in the healthcare construction sector, 6 in transport of which 5 for urban transport, 6 in the energy sector, 1 in institutional construction, 1 in urban renovation, 8 in urban construction, 4 in school construction, 5 in social construction, 2 in university construction and finally 2 in port construction (Fig. 3.1). The total value of the contracts was approximately 11,320 million euros, while the average value of each contract was 162 million euros. Contracts related to the urban transport sector prevail (5 contracts for a total value of approximately 4400 million euros). The small-scale operations concerned partnerships aimed at the construction and management of cemeteries, the maintenance and management of schools and sports facilities, car parks and the reorganization of urban areas (15 contracts for an average contractual value of approximately 18.3 million euros). With particular reference to the public entities, local health bodies (ASL Azienda Sanitaria Locale) and hospitals are mainly observed (44%), followed by the municipalities (39%) (Fig. 3.2).

Fig. 3.1 No. of PPPs contracts in Italy (2010–2022): distribution by economic sector. (Authors’ elaboration based on data ISTAT as quoted in DIPE [4])

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Fig. 3.2 PPPs in Italy (2010–2022): distribution by public body (Authors’ elaboration based on data ISTAT as quoted in DIPE [4])

3.1.3 PP(P)P and Municipalities Generally, PPPs concern complex works of a certain economic importance. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank [5] identifies five limitations for the development of PPP at municipal level. 1. Municipalities may have limited project development and procurement capacity. 2. Most municipal governments may need central government support in the form of payment guarantees or public finance in order to have access to credit. Subnational borrowers could have an incentive not to repay their creditors, or to engage in too risky or poorly-structured projects, if they perceive that they could be bailed out by the central government. 3. Municipal governments often do not have an efficient legal framework for procuring PPPs. 4. In some worse cases decentralization could result in a lack of accountability and transparency. On the other hand, by bringing the decision-making process closer to the people directly affected by the project, decentralization may instead favour transparency. 5. Many cities and subnational governments have fragmented and overlapping jurisdictions. This could generate problems of coordination in policy formulation and implementation.

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Other limits of standard PPP arise in the case, particularly widespread in Italy, of the valorisation of cultural and architectural heritage. In fact, in this case it is not always possible to guarantee the use of public goods on the basis of their profitability, but one must take into account the value in terms of social cohesion and cultural identity for the population. The article 134, c.2, of the Legislative Decree no. 36/2023 (Decreto Legislativo 31 marzo 2023)1 allows not only to the State and the Regions, but also to territorial bodies to activate special forms of partnership with public bodies and organizations, and with private entities, aimed at the recovery, restoration, scheduled maintenance, management, opening to public use, and valorisation of cultural heritage, through simplified procedures for identifying the private partner [6]. These “special” Public–Private Partnership (Partenariato «Speciale» PubblicoPrivato PSPP) could be based on the cooperation and participation of the local community, the partnership with cultural operators able to invest profits and revenues in the strengthening and sustainability of the valorisation process of the property [7]. Another possibility for the creation of public works or public utility services in a situation of lack of public resources is to involve citizens both through financial participation and the evaluation and appreciation of the project through online involvement. For instance, a PPP operation could be complemented by the use of civic crowdfunding [8]. In particular, in the case of safeguarding and managing public cultural heritage, which is in a condition of neglect, a new model of finding resources can be identified: 4P Public–Private–People Partnership PPPP with the direct involvement of community, which can take various forms: legal persons with non-profit objectives (e.g., ecclesiastical entities), non-profit organizations, associations and various types of foundations (e.g., banking foundations). This form of direct participation is based above all on the sense of belonging of the community embodied by the cultural asset, on the active system of relationships between local authorities, businesses, associations, citizens of a territory, and on a transparent and shared approach to the management of public goods. Thus, the involvement of social and economic actors plays an important role in governmental processes, and mainly so on a local scale. It discloses opportunities for implementing novel, proactive and positive ways of participating not only in the development of the project (as the investment and service provision-related decisions are typically made during the planning and design stages), but also for the executive and operational stages [9].

A local scale of intervention is necessary for the preservation of cultural assets that do not rise to national or international relevance and require interventions that cannot be guided, at least not exclusively, by the opportunity for economic profit. Civic crowdfunding itself can become the tool through which private citizens, individuals or gathered in non-profit associations are involved.

1

This decree replaces the repealed Legislative Decree 18 April 2016, n. 50, which introduced special forms of partnership in article 151.

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3.2 Civic Crowdfunding: Alternative Financial Instruments for the Public Administrations 3.2.1 Introduction Crowdfunding is a form of bottom-up funding that actively involves people in order to collect funds through a flexible instrument and support innovative ideas and projects. The use of crowdfunding to fund public works and projects by the citizens themselves is usually known as civic crowdfunding. In Italy it is still little adopted directly by public administration, even though it could enhance the transparency of the decision-making process and generate a fund-raising campaign to implement projects of public interest, giving citizens the opportunity to cooperate to the development of the town they live in. Civic crowdfunding may offer many economic and social benefits and promote a shared management of the common assets, starting a new form of public–private partnership. The method of raising funds from a plurality of subjects for the realization of a project is not in itself a novelty. One of the most known and cited case is that of the financing of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. In 1884 the American Committee supported only part of the resources necessary for the construction of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The publishing tycoon Joseph Pulitzer persuaded the citizens to make a public subscription in order to make the construction possible [10, 11]. «If crowdfunding Web sites had existed in Pulitzer’s time, he would today remain one of their most successful users. In his case, the platform used was the New York World newspaper, of which he was proprietor» [11]. The novelty is actually represented by some elements introduced and amplified by the diffusion of the internet: disintermediation, easy accessibility, a greater perception of the connection between contribution and chosen project, the idea of participating in a community, in a shared project. Particularly in the towns with limited budgets, civic crowdfunding could serve as a basic instrument to solve some critical situation and support the public authorities in funding and implementing public projects.

3.2.2 Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the pooling of funds for the financing and implementation of specific initiatives, which takes place by directly addressing a myriad of potential funders via online platforms. In a standard crowdfunding procedure, we can therefore identify four main elements or units [12]:

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• The project owner, willing to raise funds through a crowdfunding campaign in order to carry out a project, to be hosted on the crowdfunding platform; • The web-based crowdfunding platform, providing the infrastructure that enables project owners to launch their crowdfunding campaign, collect funds, and interact with potential backers; • The funders, backers or investors, represented by all those individuals (the crowd) that might contribute economically to the project; • The project; it is useful to introduce the project as a fourth “player” for a better understanding: indeed, the type of project determines the characteristics of the fundraising campaign. It is a widespread form of financing, which can take on different forms depending on the relationship between those who pay their money and those who receive it and depending on the objective of the collection. Among the main forms of crowdfunding, we can recognize the following models [13]: • Donation based: funders do not receive any economic reward in return; these are solidarity campaigns, aimed at social, cultural or not-for-profit projects or even sport projects. It is basically a philanthropic model. • Reward based: funders can receive non-financial rewards, e.g.: the same object/ service they have contributed for, a gadget or a ticket to access an event, depending on the level of their economic contribution. • Equity based: funders buy shares of a company, thus investing in risk capital, becoming a full shareholder of the company and expecting a return on their investment based on the risk profile of the investment. • Lending based: funders issue a loan directly to the financed subjects with the goal to receive an interest. It is possible to identify some subcategories of crowdfunding: crowdinvesting, real estate crowdfunding and civic crowdfunding. • Crowdinvesting includes equity and lending crowdfunding; therefore, a funding that has as its objective an investment in risk or debt capital. These investments must comply with the criteria imposed by the law and by the supervisory authorities. Innovative startups, SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) can request the participation of investors through crowdinvesting platforms in order to carry out their projects. • Real Estate Crowdfunding: in this case the object of the pooling of money is the building or renovation of an income producing real estate property.

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3.2.3 Civic Crowdfunding Crowdfunding has attracted the attention of public authorities as an alternative financial tool that can support social policies. For this reason, also the European Community is showing great interest in crowdfunding by supporting the partnership between public administrations and crowdfunding platforms and starting to regulate the sector [13, 14]. It is possible to find many definitions of civic crowdfunding in the literature [12]. It is clear that the decisive aspect is to identify what is meant by civic, once it is understood how crowdfunding works. For our treatment we think that the following definition may be suitable. Civic crowdfunding is a subcategory of crowdfunding through which citizens, often in collaboration with government, propose, fund and deliver projects that aim to provide a community service or deliver public value through local area improvement projects [14].

This definition introduces the presence of the public administration, which represents a further actor with respect to the standard crowdfunding model, and highlights the ability of projects to bring benefits to a local area, producing positive economic and social impacts capable of expanding to the local ecosystem [13]. Furthermore, the presence of the public administration is not seen as a necessary condition for the civic nature of crowdfunding (“often in collaboration” but not always); the definition focuses on citizens, as project initiators, and the capacity of their project to benefit the community. Civic crowdfunding “pursues a goal of general interest and supports place-based projects” [15]. Project Initiators and Their Motivations Charbit and Desmoulins [15] identify three main categories of project initiators. The first is “Civil society organizations and local inhabitants”: indeed, many social and cultural projects are proposed by third sector/non-profit organizations and local associations, sometimes in partnership with the municipalities. Being backed by a structured organization is important for the success of the fundraising campaign, thanks to the support of volunteers, networks and communications strategy. Considering the “place-based” dimension of civic crowdfunding, the engagement of local community is crucial. Citizens have a leading role, as they are the first to usually detect problems. The key factor in the civic crowdfunding application is that citizens feel their belonging to a set of communities to which they are committed, these can be as small as a school or a church, or as large as a city [16]. The second category is “Urban creators”: architects, designers, artists willing to contribute to local community by enhancing their own neighbourhood.

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The third category is public administration.2 For sure, scarcity of resources can push public administrations to adopt new communication strategies towards citizenship, introducing new participatory models and highlighting the value of shared goods and services [17]. But, as we saw in the Chap. 2 in Sect. 2.3, public administrations consider civic crowdfunding useful, also for the involvement of citizens and for the transparency that this tool should guarantee regarding accountability and control over funded projects. Public participation in decision-making processes can be driven by new technologies and economic motivations related to the crisis of public administration [18] and it can become an important moment of the relationship between public and private. Transparency is a necessary requirement for the commitment of the citizenship. Promoters must therefore foster open access to information at every stage of the project. Another reason that emerged in favour of the use of civic crowdfunding is the possibility of testing the interest of citizens for specific projects. An important reason why public administration may decide to resort to civic crowdfunding is in response to the occurrence of extraordinary events, generally catastrophic, such as earthquakes, floods, landslides. Finally, especially in lending and equity crowdfunding models, public administrations may use this tool in order to support SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) and startups, enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

3.2.4 Role of Public Administrations in Civic Crowdfunding There are generally four possible roles that public administrations can cover in a crowdfunding process [13, 14, 19, 20]: • Sponsor—the public administration launches its own campaign for a specific project on an existing civic crowdfunding platform. • Manager—the public administration creates its own crowdfunding platform to foster the development of its territory. Generally, this platform can promote both entrepreneurial for-profit projects and non-profit civic initiatives. • Curator—the public administration selects from an existing crowdfunding platform a list of projects that meet its agenda. In this scenario, the selection of projects, that will receive further support from public resources, is made after the crowdfunding phase is successfully closed. • Facilitator—the public administration commits to co-finance successful crowdfunded projects on partner platforms before the crowdfunding phase is launched. An agreement between the public administration and the crowdfunding platform 2

Charbit and Desmoulins [15] refer to “Subnational government”, but for the purpose of our treatment it can be identified with public administration.

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usually regulates areas and criteria for the selection of projects, co-funding rates, timing, and reporting requirements. Eurocrowd3 [13] has introduced a fifth role, that of enabler: the public administration provides support services to foster the use of crowdfunding among its citizens. In civic crowdfunding procedure the public administration has the option to recur to match-funding, as well. In match-funding a contribution from the public administration is added to the contributions of the backers. One of the most common match-funding systems is top-up: for example, project initiators have to raise at least 40% of the necessary amount through donations from citizens; if they succeed in crossing that goal, they will receive the remaining 60% from the municipality.4 Other forms of match-funding are: First-in (Booster)—Public administration provides some financial contribution to the project at the very beginning of the crowdfunding campaign. This mechanism reassures potential donors or investors about the commitment of the public authority and boosts the credibility of the project. Bridging—The contribution of the public administration comes as a bridge between the initial and the final part of the crowdfunding campaign, once the project budget has hit an intermediate mark. 1:1 (one-on-one)—Public administration contributes simultaneously to the crowdfunding campaign, providing an additional euro for each euro raised from the crowd. In civic crowdfunding the most common models are the donation and reward models, which can be usually further divided into All-or-Nothing and Keep-it-all models. • All-or-Nothing (AON) requires that the project owner set a minimum funding target for carrying out the project. If the campaign is successful the project owner will receive all the donated money, otherwise backers are refunded. • In Keep-it-all (KIA) system the project owner will receive all the collected money, regardless of whether the funding target has been achieved or not.

3

Eurocrowd is an independent, professional business network in the crowdfunding and digital finance sector. Based in Belgium, its members include European crowdfunding platforms, public institutions, research institutes, universities and private companies. 4 An interesting case was presented by the Municipality of Milano in the context of the presentation, on 26 November 2020, of the XIII edition of the OPPAL Report (Permanent Observatory on Local Public Administration) on the efficiency of concession processes, elaborated by REC Real Estate Center, ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano. 20 projects were selected through a public tender: the proponents had 60 days to collect 40% of the necessary amount through donations from citizens. The projects that managed to cross this goal received the remaining 60% from the Municipality of Milano with a non-refundable grant of up to e60,000.

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Fig. 3.3 Crowdfunding platforms in Italy (Authors’ elaboration based on Desando [21]). *More modalities of fundraising are present.

Some platforms include the fundraising modality, as well: there are no duration limits, neither economic target to be achieved; therefore, the campaign can continue to raise funds indefinitely (for political parties, ONLUS and other organizations) (Sect. 3.2.5). Lending and equity crowdfunding models can be used in civic crowdfunding as a public tool for supporting SMEs and startups.5

3.2.5 Civic Crowdfunding Platforms in Italy In Italy there are over 100 crowdfunding platforms. These are rapidly changing numbers. Figure 3.3 shows the number of platforms based on how funds are raised. Below, we list some of the most active platforms in the field of civic crowdfunding. Indeed, these are the platforms that we shall encounter in the examples about small municipalities. In general, these platforms provide for forms of partnership with various public and private bodies for the promotion of crowdfunding campaigns, to which, in turn, citizens and minor associations or bodies are invited to present their projects. The launch of crowdfunding campaigns is usually mediated by more structured players who act as facilitators. Typically, these platforms have a close link with the territory they belong to. For example, the Ginger platform, based in Bologna, collaborates with many banks and associations in Emilia Romagna (Ginger stands for Gestione Idee Nuove e Geniali in Emilia Romagna - Management of New and Ingenious Ideas in Emilia Romagna), while not excluding partnerships with other realities. 5

See for instance, INNOVA Venture, an investment scheme, designed and promoted by Regione Lazio, aimed at co-investing, alongside private and retail investors, in innovative start-ups in the territory (equity crowdfunding). The project started with European funds [14].

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Another example, even though we are not presenting any case study about it, is Kendoo, a crowdfunding platform, promoted by the Sesaab Group which publishes L’Eco di Bergamo a local newspaper. It promotes many projects that relate to Bergamo, thanks to the partnership and support of local institutions and organizations [22]. Name

DeRev

Website

https://derev.com. Accessed 26 Jul. 2023

Location

Napoli

Description

DeRev is an Italian company. Born in 2012 as an innovative startup dedicated to crowdfunding, DeRev is now also involved in digital strategies, community engagement, digital marketing campaigns and social media communication

Modality

All-or-Nothing, Keep-it-all, and Fundraising Reward-based

Name

Eppela

Website

https://www.eppela.com/. Accessed 27 Jul. 2023

Location

Lucca

Description

Established in 2011, Eppela is an Italian company dedicated to crowdfunding

Modality

Keep-it-all, and Fundraising Donation- and Reward-based

Name

Ideaginger.it—Ginger

Website

https://www.ideaginger.it. Accessed 26 Jul. 2023

Location

Bologna

Description The Ideaginger.it platform is managed by the Ginger Association, a non-profit organization based in Bologna. It has been promoting crowdfunding since 2013 The platform proposes training workshop explaining how to design and communicate a crowdfunding campaign and provides a campaign manager, that help to define the goal of the project, devise rewards and plan a communication strategy This platform saw the implementation of 1019 projects with the collection of over e10,550,000 from 171,300 donors and a 95% success rate and 167% over-funding Modality

The campaigns hosted on Ideaginger.it are of the “All-or-Nothing” type Usually reward-based

Name

PlanBee

Website

https://www.planbee.bz/it/home. Accessed 31 Jul. 2023

Location

Roma (continued)

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(continued) Name

PlanBee

Description PlanBee is an Italian platform dedicated to civic and environmental crowdfunding, which since 2015 has been aimed at municipalities, non-profit organizations (associations, cooperatives) and companies interested in promoting urban redevelopment interventions, social gardens, environmental education, street art and reforestation in order to generate benefits for the area and improve the quality of life of their communities Modality

Keep-it-all Reward/Donation-based

Name

Produzioni dal Basso

Website

https://www.produzionidalbasso.com/. Accessed 27 Jul. 2023

Location

Lucca

Description Produzioni dal Basso is an Italian platform for online fundraising for initiatives with an impact in the social, cultural and environmental fields. It provides training activities and platform design service, and the support of a campaign manager This platform saw the implementation of 8264 projects with the collection of over e24,638,000 Modality

All-or-Nothing, Keep-it-all, and Fundraising Reward/Donation-based

Name

Ulule

Website

https://it.ulule.com/. Accessed 31 Jul. 2023

Location

Paris, Montreal, Barcelona, Rome and Antwerp

Description Ulule is a general reward-based crowdfunding platform. Projects are funded only if they reach (or exceed) their financial goal according to the All-or-Nothing model. The company, established in France, has expanded to other countries and is certified B Corp Since its launch in 2010, 64,273 projects have been presented, of which 44,768 were funded with over 276 million euros (as of 31 July 2023), thanks to users in 193 countries Modality

All-or-Nothing Reward-based

3.2.6 Civic Crowdfunding Experiences in Italy In this paragraph, we report some experiences of civic crowdfunding that have seen the involvement of Italian local public administrations. These are initiatives started by large municipalities, often with the involvement of third sector organizations.

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Bologna One of the first examples of civic crowdfunding in Italy, and certainly one of the best known, is “Un passo per San Luca” promoted by the Municipality of Bologna and the Committee for the restoration of the Portico di San Luca (Comitato per il restauro del Portico di San Luca), with the collaboration of Ginger in 2014 [23]. It was a fundraising campaign for the restoration of the nearly 4 km long portico, dating back to the seventeenth century, which leads to the Basilica of the same name located on Colle della Guardia in Bologna. These places are very dear to the Bolognese. At the end of the campaign, e339,743 had been collected (compared to the target of e300,000, equal to 113% of the objective) donated by 7111 backers, that received in exchange a coloured plastic frog made by a group of artists (Cracking Art). Milano The Municipality of Milano has experimented with civic crowdfunding in the role of facilitator on several occasions, addressing public tenders to third sector entities and non-profit associations. The first time in 2016, it promoted a call for proposals to make the city accessible by removing tangible and intangible barriers for people with psychophysical and sensory frailties, to strengthen urban connectivity through technological innovations, to reduce the digital divide for citizens and businesses, to promote information channels on the opportunities that the city offers, to develop welfare services and services for family-work conciliation, and initiatives based on collaboration and sharing in support of social and local networks [24]. The Municipality of Milano selected the proposals of companies and non-profit organizations, which then had access to fundraising on the Eppela platform, and contributed public co-financing up to a maximum of 50 thousand euros to projects that had achieved at least 50% of the goal established through the collection of online donations. A total of e657,018 was raised for 16 projects financed out of 18 with 1650 backers. Thanks to this civic crowdfunding project, the Municipality of Milano won the title of Wellbeing city 2019, a prestigious international award dedicated to the public administrations of cities that place wellbeing at the centre of their policies and urban planning [25]. In 2020, the Municipality of Milano proposed a second edition of the public call for civic crowdfunding, also thanks to the resources of the PON-Metro Milano6 [26]. 19 projects were carried out thanks to a fundraising of e320,000, more than doubled through public contributions. In this edition the campaign was carried out in collaboration with Produzioni dal Basso and Ginger Crowdfunding [27]: Ginger Crowdfunding provided the owners of the selected projects a training and support 6

The Metropolitan Cities Operational Program 2014–2020 (Programma Operativo Città Metropolitane 2014–2020) PON Metro is a unitary National Operational Program (Programma Operativo Nazionale PON) of interventions for sustainable urban development. The program entrusts a percentage of the community resources from the European Regional Development Fund for urban development programs to the city authorities [26].

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course to develop crowdfunding campaigns, while the fundraising campaign took place on Produzioni dal Basso [28]. The tender, open to non-profit organizations and third sector entities based in Milan (social enterprises, associations, social cooperatives, voluntary organizations and foundations), focused on the peripheral districts of the city and the improvement of the territory and the local community in terms of quality of life and social aggregation, with particular attention to the most vulnerable subjects and to the new fragilities generated by the Covid emergency. A third edition was launched in 2022, again in partnership with Produzioni dal Basso and Ginger Crowdfunding (and with the resources of the PON-Metro Milano). The aim was to promote the creation (or supporting the consolidation) of sociocultural services and activities in the neighbourhoods, with a view to creating the “15 min-City”. To be eligible, the projects had to cost between 20,000 and 80,000 euros, and take place in all districts of the city (with the exception of Municipio 1, the central district). The fundraising, in fact, concerned 40% of the resources necessary to carry out the project: the remaining part, up to a maximum of e48,000 per project, was financed by the municipality [29]. The 16 selected projects reached their fundraising goal with a total collection of more than e263,000 thanks to over 1775 donors [28]. Mantova In 2017 the Province of Mantova launched “Co-Mantova” a civic crowdfunding platform in collaboration with the DeRev platform to allow schools, entrepreneurs and associations of its municipalities to promote and raise funds in support of their projects through dedicated campaigns. In this case the role of the public administration was similar to that of manager (creating its own crowdfunding platform to foster the projects of its territory) [30, 31]. Soliera (Modena) A smaller public administration has also tried the role of facilitator in a crowdfunding campaign. This is the case of the Municipality of Soliera (15,453 inhabitants as of 01/01/2023), in the province of Modena, which promoted the civic crowdfunding “Ataldegmè”, in partnership with DeRev [32]. The inhabitants of the city, as individuals, informal groups or recognized associations, proposed innovative interventions to regenerate the territory, promote social cohesion, support young people and culture: among the many proposals, the municipality selected four projects, then undertook the crowdfunding process and were successfully financed. Torino Another example is the crowdfunding collection on the Ginger platform in 2021 for the “Top Metro Fa Bene” project [33] promoted by the Metropolitan City of Torino (Città Metropolitana di Torino) in partnership with S-nodi (an organization that deals with territorial socio-economic development) and co-financed with funds from Caritas.

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The project was aimed at third sector organizations, businesses, groups of people and public administrations to activate sustainable territorial ecosystems in the cities of Collegno, Grugliasco, Moncalieri, Rivoli, Venaria Reale. The objectives of the project: to promote and enhance local commercial activities, socio-economic inclusion of vulnerable citizens, civic participation, the competences of third sector entities, and trust in third sector entities and public institutions by citizens. Venezia The civic crowdfunding initiative promoted by the Municipality of Venezia, as part of the program “La città SIcura di sé”, through collaboration with the third sector and the resources of the PON Metro, intended to support and promote innovative projects for the city welfare. Through two public tenders, the municipality selected ideas and projects from third sector entities and non-profit associations. The selected projects could access the Produzioni dal Basso crowdfunding platform in order to raise funding from citizens. The proponents of the projects were also offered, with the collaboration of a non-profit foundation, a dedicated training for the development of the project and its promotional campaign. The municipality therefore guaranteed co-financing up to a maximum of e5,000 to all projects that exceeded the 50% threshold during the crowdfunding campaign [34]. Overall, in the two tenders promoted by the Municipality of Venezia, 22 organizations benefited from the 25-h training; 18 out of 22 projects achieved the target and obtained co-financing; in the 2021 edition e37,638 were donated by 474 citizens and in the 2022 edition e51,720 by 690 citizens [35]. Emil Banca An interesting case is that in which a private entity, playing the role of facilitator, promotes civic crowdfunding projects involving local public administrations. This is the case of Emil Banca which, in collaboration with the Ginger platform, promotes the initiative “Abbiamo un cuore in Comune”7 aimed at public bodies, to foster projects with a positive impact on local areas and consistent with the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda [36]. Interestingly, the call only considers the territories in which the bank is present (provinces of Bologna, Ferrara, Mantova, Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Reggio Emilia), explicitly excluding the provincial capitals (capoluoghi di provincia). According to a recurring pattern in the partnerships with the Ginger platform, the bank offers the opportunity to attend a civic crowdfunding training course, before starting the fundraising campaign on the platform. The bank also integrates the amount of money collected by the most deserving projects with cash sums. The numbers of the 2022 initiative are seven projects presented by municipalities, financed with over e48,500 from 855 donors and an overfunding of 138% compared to target [37].

7

It plays on words on the double meaning of “in Comune”: “in the municipality” and “in common”.

References

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References 1. Dipartimento per la programmazione e il coordinamento della politica economica, Partenariato Pubblico Privato (PPP). https://www.programmazioneeconomica.gov.it/partenariato-pub blico-privato/. Accessed 11 Sept 2023 2. The World Bank, PPP Contract Types and Terminology. https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-pri vate-partnership/ppp-contract-types-and-terminology. Accessed 14 Sept 2023 3. EPEC European PPP Expertise Centre (2023) Market update. Review of the European publicprivate partnership market in 2022. March 2023. https://www.eib.org/en/publications/202 30009-market-update-2022. Accessed 11 Sept 2023 4. DIPE Dipartimento per la Programmazione e il coordinamento della Politica Economica (2023). Relazione sull’attività svolta dal DIPE nell’anno 2022 in materia di Partenariato Pubblico Privato (PPP) e finanza di progetto. https://www.programmazioneeconomica.gov. it/pubblicazioni-2/. Accessed 11 Sept 2023 5. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank (2017). PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. Reference Guide. Version 3. https://ppp.worldbank.org/publicprivate-partnership/sites/ppp.worldbank.org/files/documents/PPP%20Reference%20Guide% 20Version%203.pdf. Accessed 11 Sept 2023 6. Decreto Legislativo 31 marzo 2023, n. 36. (Codice dei contratti pubblici). https://www.normat tiva.it/uri-res/N2Ls?urn:nir:stato:decreto.legislativo:2023-03-31;36. Accessed 15 Sept 2023 7. Milella F (2021) Il Partenariato «Speciale» Pubblico-Privato (PSPP—art. 151, c.3 del D.Lgs. N.50/2016 e s.m.i.). https://www.anci.it/il-partenariato-nel-bando-borghi-del-mic-occasioneper-un-nuovo-modello-di-governance-condivisa/. Accessed 11 Sept 2023 8. Bo G, Bo F (2018) Civic crowdfunding e PPP: un modello di funding possibile? https://www. federicobo.eu/civic-crowdfunding-e-ppp-un-modello-di-funding-possibile/. Accessed 18 Sept 2023 9. Boniotti C (2023) The public–private–people partnership (P4) for cultural heritage management purposes. J Cult Herit Manag Sustain Dev 13(1):1–14. Emerald Publishing Limited 2044-1266. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-12-2020-0186 10. Barollo A, Castrataro D (2013) Civic Crowdfunding: a proposal. https://issuu.com/alessioba rollo/docs/civic_crowd_english. Accessed 20 Sept 2023 11. Davies R (2014) Civic crowdfunding: participatory communities, entrepreneurs and the political economy of place. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2434615. Accessed 17 Jul. 2023 12. Wenzlaff K (2020) Civic crowdfunding: four perspectives on the definition of civic crowdfunding. In: Shneor R, Zhao L, Flåten BT (eds) Advances in crowdfunding. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0_19 13. Eurocrowd (2021) Scaling up partnerships. In: Passeri F (ed), 25 June. https://eurocrowd. org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/FINAL_Eurocrowd-ScalingUpPartnerships-2021-2.pdf. Accessed 30 Jun 2023 14. fi-compass (2020) Crowdfunding and ESF opportunities: future perspectives for managing authorities. July. https://www.ficompass.eu/sites/default/files/publications/Crowdfunding% 20and%20ESF%20opportunities%20future%20perspectives%20for%20managing%20auth orities_0.pdf. Accessed 30 Jun 2023 15. Charbit C, Desmoulins G (2017) Civic crowdfunding: a collective option for local public goods? OECD Regional Development Working Papers, working paper 2017/02. OECD Publishing, Paris 16. Oliva N (2018) Crowdfunding and civic crowdfunding: theoretical features and future prospects. In: Comite U (ed) Public management and administration. https://www.intechopen. com/chapters/60645. Accessed 19 Apr 2023 17. Abruscato S, Cane F, Giannola E, Riotta F (2015) Nuove strategie per il bene collettivo: crowdfunding civico al Parco Uditore di Palermo. In: XVIII Conferenza Nazionale SIU. Italia 45–45: radici, condizioni, prospettive. Planum Association, pp 1962–1966

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18. Cameli SA (2019) Il civic crowdfunding e il futuro della pubblica amministrazione. Rivista italiana di Pub Manag 2(1). https://www.rivistaitalianadipublicmanagement.it/wp-content/upl oads/2019/03/RIPM_V2-N1_SFocus_1.pdf. Accessed 21 Apr 2023 19. Davies R (2014) Civic crowdfunding as a marketplace for participation in urban development. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2434615. Accessed 17 Jul 2023 20. European Crowdfunding Network (2018) Triggering participation: a collection of civic crowdfunding and match-funding experiences in the EU. In: Passeri F (ed). https://eurocrowd. org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Triggering-Participation-A-collection-of-Civic-Crowdfund ing-and-Match-funding-Experiences-in-the-EU.pdf. Accessed 17 Jul 2023 21. Desando C (2023) Crowdfunding: le migliori piattaforme per investire in Italia. July 05. https://www.economyup.it/startup/crowdfunding-tutte-le-piattaforme-attive-in-italiae-come-usarle/. Accessed 11 Jul 2023 22. https://www.kendoo.it. Accessed 28 Apr 2023 23. Un passo per San Luca. http://www.unpassopersanluca.it/il-progetto.html. Accessed 26 Jul 2023 24. Eppela. Progetti a impatto sociale in cerca di successo. https://www.eppela.com/mentor/2/com une-di-milano. Accessed 27 Jul 2023 25. Comune di Milano (2019) Smart city. Milano vince il premio Wellbeing city 2019. May 23. https://www.comune.milano.it/-/smart-city.-milano-vince-il-premio-wellbeing-city-2019. Accessed 27 Jul 2023 26. Agenzia per la Coesione Territoriale. PON Città Metropolitane. https://www.agenziacoesione. gov.it/pon/pon-metro/. Accessed 27 Jul 2023 27. Comune di Milano (2020) Pon Metro. Con il crowdfunding civico, Comune e cittadini investono su sociale e cultura per far ripartire le periferie. May 30. https://www.comune.mil ano.it/-/pon-metro.-con-il-crowdfunding-civico-comune-e-cittadini-investono-su-sociale-ecultura-per-far-ripartire-le-periferie. Accessed 27 Jul 2023 28. Produzioni dal Basso. Crowdfunding Civico. Comune di Milano. https://www.produzionida lbasso.com/network/di/comune-di-milano#comunedimilano-initiative. Accessed 27 Jul 2023 29. Comune di Milano (2022) Crowdfunding civico. Aperto il nuovo bando per sostenere progetti nei quartieri. May 25. https://www.comune.milano.it/-/crowdfunding-civico.-aperto-il-nuovobando-per-sostenere-progetti-nei-quartieri. Accessed 27 Jul 2023 30. DeRev (2017) Il Comune di Mantova sceglie DeRev per la sua piattaforma di crowdfunding civico. November 15. https://derev.com/2017/11/comune-mantova-sceglie-derev-la-sua-piatta forma-crowdfunding-civico/. Accessed 26 Jul 2023 31. Provincia di Mantova. Crowdfunding civico con CO-MANTOVA per sostenere progetti culturali e sociali. https://www.provincia.mantova.it/news_detail.jsp?ID_NEWS=2412&are aNews=17>emplate=imp_home.jsp. Accessed 26 Jul 2023 32. DeRev (2017) Crowdfunding civico, 100% di progetti finanziati dal Comune di Soliera su DeRev. https://derev.com/2017/02/crowdfunding-civico-100-progetti-finanziati-dal-com une-soliera-derev/?_ga=2.86052696.1923712902.1690378798-397436547.1690378798. Accessed 26 Jul 2023 33. Ginger. Top Metro Fa Bene. https://www.ideaginger.it/partner/top-metro-fa-bene. html. Accessed 26 Jul 2023 34. Città di Venezia. Civic Crowdfunding—PON METRO. https://www.comune.venezia.it/it/cro wdfundingcivico. Accessed 28 Jul 2023 35. Produzioni dal Basso. Il crowdfunding civico del Comune di Venezia. https://www.produzion idalbasso.com/network/di/comune-di-venezia#progetti-comune-di-venezia. Accessed 28 Jul 2023 36. Ginger. Abbiamo un cuore in Comune. https://www.ideaginger.it/partner/emil-banca-abbiamoun-cuore-in-comune.html. Accessed 20 Jul 2023 37. Ginger. Emil Banca—Abbiamo un cuore in Comune. https://www.ideaginger.it/partner-pro getti/emil-banca-abbiamo-un-cuore-in-comune.html. Accessed 20 Jul 2023

Chapter 4

Civic Crowdfunding and the Small Italian Municipalities

Abstract Civic crowdfunding can be applied to different fields of intervention, from social impact projects to the preservation and enhancement of environment and the cultural heritage. This chapter highlights the potentialities of civic crowdfunding related to small Italian municipalities, including some case studies. Keywords Civic crowdfunding case studies · Small Italian municipalities

4.1 Small Italian Municipalities This section will focus on small Italian municipalities. Indeed, today these towns can use new tools which could provide a solution to issues such as depopulation, decline of essential services, and abandoned local heritage. Small municipalities are usually considered those towns with 10% of the total area (2166 small municipalities); k. municipalities established as a result of merger (111 small municipalities); l. municipalities included in peripheral and ultra-peripheral areas, based on SNAI classification (supra). The small municipalities allowed to benefit from the funding were listed in Annex A of the Prime Ministerial Decree of 23 July 2021 (DPCM 23 luglio 2021) [14].

4.1.2 NRRP—National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR—Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza) NRRP National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza) is part of Next Generation EU program (NGEU), a 750-billion-euro package, made up of about half of grants, agreed by the European Union in response to the pandemic crisis. The total amount of NRRP is 191.5 billion of euros [15].

5

SNAI Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne (National Strategy for Inland Areas).

4.1 Small Italian Municipalities

59

The Plan primarily consists of six Missions or policy areas, which correspond to the six pillars of the EU Next Generation program (Table 4.1). Within the missions are addressed specific challenges and investment sectors. Naturally, small municipalities will also benefit from other infrastructural investments envisaged by the plan, such as digital services offered to citizens by Public Administration and ultra-fast networks, ultra-wideband and 5G connectivity, or investments to promote tourism or those to secure cultural heritage and places of worship from earthquakes (mainly ecclesiastical assets), or investments for hydrogeological risk reduction measures. Here we focus in particular on investments that have a specific positive impact on small municipalities. As part of the first mission, “Digitalisation, innovation, competitiveness, culture and tourism” (Digitalizzazione, innovazione, competitività, cultura e turismo) [16] specific investments (1.02 bn out of a total e40.29 bn allocated to the Mission) are devoted to small villages in the “National Villages Plan” (Piano Nazionale Borghi). The investment aims at supporting the economic and social development of many small Italian villages and historical centres that offer enormous potential thanks to the culture, history and traditions that characterise them. A model will be developed to guide tourism in a more sustainable flow promoting visits to areas that are not well known [17].

The investment to increase the attractiveness of the villages covers three aspects: recovery of the historical heritage and redevelopment of open spaces, creation of cultural/tourist services, support for activities aimed at relaunching local economies by enhancing, for example, agri-food and artisanal products. The plan provides not only interventions spread throughout the territory (Linea/Line B), but also an allocation of 420 million euros for the implementation of 21 pilot projects for the cultural, social and economic regeneration of 21 villages at risk of abandonment or abandoned, one for each Region and Autonomous Province (Linea/Line A) [18]. As of 1 March 2023, the investment devoted to the tourist relaunch of the villages were distributed among 288 municipalities for 228 projects for a total amount of Table 4.1 Missions of National Recovery and Resilience Plan—NRRP (Based on Italia Domani PNRR [15]) Mission

Value (billion)

Percentage (%)

Mission 1: Digitalization, innovation, competitiveness, culture and tourism

e40.29

21.04

Mission 2: Green revolution and ecological transition

e59.46

31.05

Mission 3: Infrastructure for sustainable mobility

e25.40

13.26

Mission 4: Education and research

e30.88

16.12

Mission 5: Cohesion and inclusion

e19.85

10.36

Mission 6: Health

e15.63

8.16

Total NRRP funds

e191.51

100.00

60

4 Civic Crowdfunding and the Small Italian Municipalities

742.5 million euros. Some interventions were shared among more municipalities at the same time (inter-territorial projects). As regards the distribution of investments, Campania is first with 55.4 million, followed by Veneto (50.6); as for the investments per number of inhabitants, Valle d’Aosta is first (e175 per capita), followed by Molise (73.9) [19]. Always within the first Mission, another investment, for 600 million, is “Protection and enhancement of architecture and the rural landscape” (Tutela e valorizzazione dell’architettura e del paesaggio rurale). The investment does not only have as its goal promoting the rural historical buildings with the finality of increasing the influx of tourists in suburban areas of the Country, but to also improve the protection of the surrounding landscape. Restructuring abandoned and decrepit buildings, will in fact create jobs, reduce the disparity between regions and alleviate the impact caused by the crisis, thanks to the promotion of local craftsmanship and agricultural products [20].

Other investments can be found in Mission five, “Inclusion and cohesion” (Inclusione e coesione). In particular, the “National Strategy for Internal Areas—Improving accessibility and safety of roads” (Strategia Nazionale Aree Interne—Miglioramento dell’accessibilità e della sicurezza delle strade) allocates 825 million euros in order to counter depopulation and economic underdevelopment of the internal areas. The goal is to fight depopulation, and the consequent decay of peripheral areas, and to promote initiatives that value natural and cultural assets, and local manufacturing sectors, promoting the economic and social recovery of internal areas, from North to South [21].

The implementation of the NRRP has highlighted some critical aspects of small municipalities, in particular those relating to the efficiency and skills available for the functioning of the local public administration. In order to facilitate and reduce the implementation times of the projects envisaged by the plan, a fund has been set up as part of the Decreto Legge (Decree Law) 51/2021 for hiring specialized technical personnel in municipalities with