# Rethinking local welfare: a network analysis of an Italian case study

## TL;DR

This paper explores how participatory research can improve local welfare by fostering collaboration among social actors in an Italian community.

## Contribution

The study introduces a network analysis approach to evaluate participatory/co-design methods in shaping local welfare systems.

## Key findings

- Participatory research can create engagement strategies and network infrastructure for local wellbeing.
- The Mapping project successfully involved organizations and cooperatives in community planning.
- Local welfare systems emerge from collaboration, not from top-down imposition.

## Abstract

The hypothesis underlying this research is that a participatory/co-design research experience, within a specific territorial context, can foster interaction between the social actors involved, enabling interesting mechanisms for transforming the infrastructure network.

We applied social network analysis methodology. We evaluated two interaction systems and observed how actors connect and how behavior is influenced, with an impact on the infrastructure network.

Our results show that a participatory research/co-design experience can create an engagement strategy and a network infrastructure capable of implementing local wellbeing.

We can conclude by stating that the Mapping project was able to actively involve, in both cases, organizations and associations/cooperatives, consolidating and sharing a common vision on community planning. A local welfare system does not exist in isolation or as something simply imposed from above.