Dalla governance ecclesiale alla civic institution: Ricerca-Azione Partecipata, insurgent planning e riterritorializzazione nelle Collaborazioni Pastorali

Abstract

The article analyzes a Participatory Action Research (PAR) process developed within the Pastoral Collaboration of Mogliano Veneto, interpreting it as a device for the territorial translation of transformations in local welfare systems and in the socio-political role of the Catholic Church. Starting from the dynamics of restructuring and privatization of welfare systems, the paper highlights how these processes generate fragmentation and a reconfiguration of governance arrangements, opening up spaces for non-institutional planning practices. In this framework, the Pastoral Collaboration is reinterpreted as a distributed territorial infrastructure capable of activating processes of spatial co-production and mediation among ecclesial, civic, and academic actors. Through the analytical lenses of insurgent planning and the instituting process, the case study shows how actors not formally recognized as planners effectively assume roles as planners. The findings indicate that PAR fosters collective learning and the re-territorialization of ecclesial spaces, framing the Pastoral Collaboration as a potential civic institution.