The Social Development of Liminal Communities through Hybrid Participation Processes. European and Italian Experiences in Comparison

The paper analyses the potential protagonism of vulnerable subjects (Castel 1995; Fineman 2016; Karwacki, Volterrani 2024) within liminal and marginal communities (Blokland 2017), profoundly reshaped and permeated by social tensions after the COVID-19 pandemic and undergoing a profound transformation. Focusing on the interplay between digital communication ecosystems and urban spaces, particularly those identified as 'liminal' (Antonucci, Sorice, Volterrani 2024), in transition, the research highlights the central role of hybrid (on-site and online) participatory processes in civic engagement for the broader social development of communities. The analysis of participatory practices considers the potentially inclusive uses of digital communication technologies while acknowledging the risk of neoliberal rationality absorbing resistance practices. Emphasising the issue of widespread vulnerabilities in all spheres of life in liminal communities, the paper argues for the need to incorporate the principles of edu-communication (Barbas 2020) into participatory processes for the social development of communities themselves, highlighting the potential of the media not only as a tool for empowerment and conscientization (Freire 1970; 1985), but also as an environment in which to promote inclusive practices, even within liminal and marginalised communities. The paper explores whether and how hybrid participatory processes can serve as a subspace for empowerment and mobilisation. The participatory action research (PAR) is based on an empirical analysis (in-depth interviews, participant observation) conducted in liminal spaces in four European countries (Italy, Poland, Croatia and Greece). Subsequently, spaces for facilitating inhabitants' participation were constructed to initiate co-design processes to imagine the future of the liminal communities. The results present the main opportunities of a participatory approach to development (decision-making protagonism, awareness of the possibilities, increased civic imagination and trust) and the main difficulties and obstacles encountered (low mutual trust, widespread presence of personalistic interests, inability to imagine the future) in the liminal communities of the four European countries involved.