Co-produrre una politica pubblica: uno sguardo etnografico a partire dalle istituzioni

Abstract

This article offers a critical perspective on co-production literature, drawing on empirical research using an institutional ethnography approach. Much of the literature examines co-production through partial perspectives, focusing on either institutional action or civic agency, leaving the relationship between the two in the background. The article argues that understanding co-production in public policy requires a distinctive lens, able to move across institutional and non-institutional levels, inside and outside organizations, grasping co-production as a situated, dynamic relational process. Through an ‘inside’ analysis of the Apulian policy Luoghi Comuni, on regenerating public spaces for cultural and social purposes, the article examines co-productive processes between institutions and civic organizations, treating this relationship as the central analytical object. The analysis identifies enabling and disabling dimensions structuring these processes, offering a mapping to guide future research and framing co-production as a field where heterogeneous elements intertwine in action.