My new article, tited “Digital Social Innovation and Urban Space: A critical geography agenda” is out in a special issue of Urban Planning (vol.5/4) on The City of Digital Social Innovators. It claims we need a critical geographical perspective to appreciate the spatial, social and poltical implications of Digital Social Innovation, and proposes a research agenda toward it.
Paper abstract and dowload link below:
Digital Social Innovation and Urban Space: A critical geography agenda
Chiara Certomà
Digital Social Innovation is a new concept referring to social innovation initiatives that leverage digital technologies potentiality to co-create solutions to a wide range of social needs. These initiatives generally take place in urban contexts; however, in the existing literature, scarce attention is devoted to the spatial dimensions and the social, cultural or political space-related effects of Digital Social Innovation practices. The paper suggests that a critical geography perspective can address these gaps. After a review of existing relevant contributes, the paper elaborates a research agenda for a critical geography of Digital Social Innovation. Thie research agenda articulates along four research lines, including the emergence of Digital Social Innovation networks; the (re)production of DSI processes and socio-cultural urban space; the representations of Digital Social Innovation practices; and the power relationships these mobilise.
Download the full article here (open access)
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Chiara Certomà 