Partecipation

In English the main word meanings attributed to attend the 'make or take part "(meaning concrete or abstract) and" intervene directly with others. "

Joining could, therefore, mean many things. It could for example mean be aware of the problems of the district or city where you live or vote in elections or referendums, respond to questionnaires or participate in assemblies information, or be involved in organisations dealing with issues related to its territory Or hold positions of responsibility.

In a context of actions and public policies, however, the term "participation" takes on a significance far more specific. In these cases, is taken into consideration by the ' "influence" that certain actions can exert on processes and decisions.

Participation, therefore, is much more than simple consultation. Participation covers all possibilities granted to the citizen / inhabitant (as an individual, his representation or local community) to influence the choices and actions that the decision public is asked to put in place.

Underlying this "enlargement" the arena of debate than the traditional way of acting there is the awareness that all those who live and work in a territory also have the resources to offer for improving the effectiveness, efficiency, equity and sustainability projects of transformation taking place in the same territory. Individual citizens can produce, exchange resources related to their knowledge of place and community in which one lives, needs, potentials, constraints and the operational capacity to launch a sustainable local development.

At first glance enlargement decision-making processes to actors "non-institutional" might seem like a tedious length, tiring and superfluous with unsustainable implications on the costs and timing of project / action to implement. Surely, a full assessment on resources used and duration of decision-making in a timespan of the long term, would highlight how, in many cases, a "new management" of public affairs responsible citizens, making it a sharer of decisions and then co - responsible for development strategies that are implemented, thus offering even greater stability of the action undertaken.