Participatory Budgeting in Italy: A Phoenix Rising from the Ashes

This chapter illustrates first the steps of PB in Italy at the beginning of the century and shows that a phase of constant development was followed by a rapid decline in the use of the tool. During this phase, some application limits of the instrument emerged, such as an excessive link with politics and a scarce ability to make the process last. A few years later, beginning from about the middle of the last decade, there has instead been a change in the trend, recognisable in a return of attention to participatory policies, fuelled on the one hand by an awareness of political class and on the other hand by the positive feedback of some successful experiences, the example of which is spreading to the rest of Italy. The number of municipalities that have adopted PB has begun to increase again, and the degree of the continuity of these practices has also intensified in a consistent manner. In this new diffusion, the political class itself has played a central role, with a role of conscious and proactive protagonist of this new course of participation in Italy. This result therefore seems to overturn what was observed with reference to the experiences of PB in the first decade of the century, where the impact of politics on participatory processes had been negative because it had led to an excessive personalisation of the tool and had compromised its durability, increasing its fragility and vulnerability. Another element for which the research has shown a progressive increase in the impact of policies linked to PB is that the proposals are growing with reference to all the activities and services of the administration and are therefore not limited to some thematic areas. The percentage share of the overall budget of the local authorities that involve PB is usually less than 1% of the total, although some signs of an increase in recent years have been detected. The population participation figure stands at around 7.5%, and the involvement in PB policies has almost always been aimed at the entire population. Nevertheless, even in light of the small figures allocated to PB, the impacts on decision-making processes do not appear particularly significant. If the overall spending policies of the municipalities are considered, a clear majority has recorded a significant growth of the culture of participation due to PB. In particular, this new culture of participation has contributed on the one hand to improving the sense of trust of citizens towards their local administrators, and on the other hand, it has favoured the birth of a new community spirit based on feelings of collaboration and sharing. The set of circumstances outlined with reference to the experience of applying PB in Italy in recent years suggests that PB can be considered a phenomenon similar to that of the phoenix rising from the ashes and that the pandemic crisis, which has inevitably led to a small decrease in the use of this practice, could instead further strengthen the will and awareness in the use of this tool, as directly observed in some specific cases.