STREAM 6: REGIONAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS OF SOCIAL INNOVATION

Description: 

This conference stream is focused on the intersections between social innovation and matters of geography. Thinking geographically about social innovation means taking seriously questions of space, place, scale and proximity. Different types of social innovation can be realised at different scales – from an individual working on a singular concern, through to social movements working on issues of profound significance for whole societies. Thinking geographically also draws attention to the nature of the ‘social’ in social innovation. In particular, the ways in which social connections, places and activities are brought into being through processes of innovation. 

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There are also wider topological implications of these different kinds of social innovation as each is stimulated, created and operationalised by various configurations of people and organisations, in different geographical contexts. These issues have been brought into sharper focus by the constraints of Covid 19. 

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Thinking geographically, therefore, calls attention not only to the genus, scale and limits of social innovations and questions the extent to which they can be transferred into other places. Thinking geographically about social innovation also focuses on social innovation as a ‘transformer’ of spatial relations, by transforming social relations through ‘improved’ governance systems and empowering communities (Moulaert, 20091).  

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Territorially speaking, this means that social innovation involves, among others, the transformation of social relations in space, the reproduction of place-bound and spatially exchanged identities and culture, and the establishment of place-based and scale-related governance structures (IBID). This also means that social innovation is quite often either locally or regionally specific, or/and spatially negotiated between agents and institutions that have a strong territorial affiliation. 

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This stream calls for contributions on the following themes: 

• How does scale influence social innovation? 

• How is social innovation incubated by communities in place, including marginalized communities or regions? 

• How does social innovation relate to the social production of space? 

• How can communities be empowered to participate in the decision making processes? 

• Why some social innovations can be more successful in one place compared to another, and why some solutions spread beyond their place of origin and scale up?  

• How can innovative policies target the ‘failures’ associated with transformative shifts? 

• How does the digital alter the relationship between social innovation and place? 

• What has the Covid crisis taught us about the geography of social innovation? 

• What opportunities and threats for social innovation are offered by the rush to digital delivery in a Covid and post-Covid world? 

• What critical tools and concepts does the discipline of geography bring to enhance our understanding of social innovation?