Corporate territories – and more
A new contribution by Aldo Bonomi helps us better understand the relation between society and economy
Districts at first, then complex territories, and now “urban bioregions”. In an attempt to explain past and current territorial transformations, the more attentive observers have developed models able to clarify and rationalise the social and economic shifts engendering them. An exercise that is not purely theoretical but also practical, and useful to those entrepreneurs or managers who, every day, have to deal (or clash) with what is happening outside (as well as inside) factories and offices.
Readers who want to better understand these changes must tackle the tangled issues underlying them, and as such will appreciate one of Aldo Bonomi’s latest analyses – “Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane” (“From social districts to urban bioregions”) – which begins by looking at the microcosms identified a few years ago, their turning into districts, and their latest incarnation as “bioregions”.
First of all, Bonomi explores the concept of ‘district’ – as well as the perhaps excessive use of the term – and then relates it to the advent of welfare as the most recent model that may be able to develop and meet the complex issues generally affecting economy and society. Thus, ‘district’ is identified not only as a physical location but also as a space in which to “mindfully organise shared aspirations” through a full understanding of the importance of the humanist criteria to be implemented. Indeed, in Bonomi’s analysis concepts such as that of subsidiarity and “community intelligence’ are very pertinent in determining the features that distinguish districts.
And, from districts, he goes on to territorial platforms focused on production and “value extraction”. Theories that, as Bonomi writes, are constantly compared against “actual on-site experience”, which may also engender “juxtaposing elements taking the shape of co-optation”.
Clearly a very intricate phenomenon where ‘territories’ are to be intended as “common property and social capital” and as such, just as districts, they only come alive when they’re listened to, through the presence of specialised stakeholders and distinguishing sites, and the introduction of specific implementation plans. All factors that, as Bonomi emphasises, are increasingly more marked and driven by social ethics – social ethics placed amongst welfare, production and politics, with the potential of turning into a positive challenge for all, including good corporate culture.
Aldo Bonomi’s writings are always rather demanding, yet equally useful and significant.
Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane (“From social districts to urban bioregions”)
Aldo Bonomi
UP Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (DOI 10.36253/fup_best_practice)
Aldo Bonomi, Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane, pp. 115-127, 2023
A new contribution by Aldo Bonomi helps us better understand the relation between society and economy
Districts at first, then complex territories, and now “urban bioregions”. In an attempt to explain past and current territorial transformations, the more attentive observers have developed models able to clarify and rationalise the social and economic shifts engendering them. An exercise that is not purely theoretical but also practical, and useful to those entrepreneurs or managers who, every day, have to deal (or clash) with what is happening outside (as well as inside) factories and offices.
Readers who want to better understand these changes must tackle the tangled issues underlying them, and as such will appreciate one of Aldo Bonomi’s latest analyses – “Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane” (“From social districts to urban bioregions”) – which begins by looking at the microcosms identified a few years ago, their turning into districts, and their latest incarnation as “bioregions”.
First of all, Bonomi explores the concept of ‘district’ – as well as the perhaps excessive use of the term – and then relates it to the advent of welfare as the most recent model that may be able to develop and meet the complex issues generally affecting economy and society. Thus, ‘district’ is identified not only as a physical location but also as a space in which to “mindfully organise shared aspirations” through a full understanding of the importance of the humanist criteria to be implemented. Indeed, in Bonomi’s analysis concepts such as that of subsidiarity and “community intelligence’ are very pertinent in determining the features that distinguish districts.
And, from districts, he goes on to territorial platforms focused on production and “value extraction”. Theories that, as Bonomi writes, are constantly compared against “actual on-site experience”, which may also engender “juxtaposing elements taking the shape of co-optation”.
Clearly a very intricate phenomenon where ‘territories’ are to be intended as “common property and social capital” and as such, just as districts, they only come alive when they’re listened to, through the presence of specialised stakeholders and distinguishing sites, and the introduction of specific implementation plans. All factors that, as Bonomi emphasises, are increasingly more marked and driven by social ethics – social ethics placed amongst welfare, production and politics, with the potential of turning into a positive challenge for all, including good corporate culture.
Aldo Bonomi’s writings are always rather demanding, yet equally useful and significant.
Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane (“From social districts to urban bioregions”)
Aldo Bonomi
UP Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (DOI 10.36253/fup_best_practice)
Aldo Bonomi, Dai distretti sociali alle bioregioni urbane, pp. 115-127, 2023