TURBULENT TIMES

Abstract

content tbc SOCIAL SERVICES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT. RELAUNCHING PUBLIC SERVICES AS A REBALANCING STRATEGY Flavia Martinelli, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy Since the 1980s, when urban and regional studies began addressing service activities, the attention of scholars has focussed eminently on business services, their innovative and competitive potential for places and their role in defining urban and regional hierarchies. As a consequence, regional policies have also privileged such services aiming at improving the competitive position of cities and regions. Conversely, social services have been largely neglected, being implicitly considered redistributive activities and, as such, a matter of welfare policies. Against this commonplace, I argue that social services play a relevant economic role and are a major driver not only of territorial justice, but also of economic development. As such, they must be brought back at the centre of the urban and regional development and policy debate. Italy is a case in point: recent evidence on the provision of social services in this country highlights dramatic and rising regional inequalities, especially in what concerns the public provision of such services. The reasons for such differences and their impact on the less favoured Southern regions are discussed and the need to make social services a major rebalancing strategy at the national and European level is advocated. CRITICALLY ASSESSING THE STRATEGIC PUBLIC SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP MODEL IN SCOTLAND AS AN EXEMPLAR OF SOCIAL INNOVATION Micaela Mazzei, Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health/ Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom Simon Teasdale, Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom Francesca Calo', Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom Michael Roy, Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom In the context of recurrent economic crises, engaging communities in the design and delivery of public services has gained momentum. In the UK in particular, this participatory impetus is