4. Laboratories of Social Investment: Post-industrial Cities and the Shifting Boundaries of Welfare Provision

Anton Hemerijck (European University Institute) 

Gemma Scalise (University of Milan-Bicocca) 

With the evolution towards more service-intensive social investment welfare states, research on the institutional capacities of subnational welfare provision is increasingly needful. While numerous studies have traced and measured national social investment-oriented welfare reform processes across OECD countries, the subnational governance of social investment—at both regional and city levels—remains under-researched. Little is known about the territorial organization of social investment delivery and the interplay between different subnational government levels. This is increasingly problematic for understanding current European welfare states, since they have undergone institutional devolution and reforms in social service delivery since the 1990s. These changes have transformed territorial social policies, creating spaces for urban and regional experimentation, as well as bottom-up capacitating services deeply engaged with local communities. 

This stream aims to explore the multi-level articulation and contextual specificity of social investment at the subnational level, encouraging papers that examine how cities and/or regions act as laboratories for social investment policy-making and delivery. We welcome contributions focusing on European post-industrial areas where territorial experimentation in social investment policies is particularly evident.  

Relevant policy fields include, but are not limited to:

- Early childhood education and care;

- Active labour market policies;

- Vocational and educational training;

- Long-term care & active aging;

- Housing;

- Social inclusion, poverty/vulnerability/inequality reduction;

- Energy policy;

- Migrant integration/education. 

Papers in this stream are expected to explore subnational social investment strategies and governance structures, covering one or more of the following dimensions:

- The territorial-related (institutional and socio-economic) variables that foster or hinder social investment problem-solving policies;

- Context-aware social investment strategies capable of mitigating spatial disparities;

- The actors and resources mobilized at both regional and local levels in policy design, management, implementation, and funding;

- Vertical (un)coordination between national administrations, regional governments, and municipalities;

- Horizontal policy synergy and discretion at the local and regional levels to align capacitating services and benefits;

- Integrated mechanisms aimed at ensuring coherence and consistency of standards in policy delivery, improving policy quality and fostering resilient public administration;

- Learning-by-monitoring policy feedback and tools that allow for an in-depth discussion of cause-and-effect relations. 

We welcome investigations of single subnational units, comparative analyses and diverse methodological approaches, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies. Conceptual papers that contribute to theorizing the multi-level governance of social investment are also encouraged, provided they align with the overarching theme of the stream.