iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Michael Howcroft

Urban Studies & Social Policy @uofgussp.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

📣 USSP Seminar alert! Get ready for an intellectual feast 🧠 6️⃣ brilliant 🇮🇹🇬🇧 speakers dive into how civic, academic & institutional roles shape places, power & collaborative development. Don't miss it! 🗓️ 28 Jan 2026 🕒 3:30-5:00pm 📍 Advanced Research Centre Info: www.eventbrite.com/e/civic-inte...

eventbrite.com

Civic intermediaries and urban change: UK and Italian perspectives

Join experts from the UK and Italy to discuss civic, academic & institutional roles in shaping places, power, and collaborative development

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Reposted by Michael Howcroft

Glen O'Hara @gsoh31.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

I don't think people realise just what a mess these absolute clowns would make. Of the economy, the Budget, diplomacy, industrial relations, trade, the Union, the media - everything. So wildly out of step with mainstream thinking and the median voter they may as well be from Mars.

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Delighted to share this super line-up of speakers, thinkers and doers at our seminar exploring civic intermediaries and urban change in the UK and Italy. 📅 January 28, 3.30-5pm 🧭 U of G Advanced Research Centre Sign up: www.eventbrite.com/e/civic-inte...

eventbrite.com

Civic intermediaries and urban change: UK and Italian perspectives

Join experts from the UK and Italy to discuss civic, academic & institutional roles in shaping places, power, and collaborative development

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Reposted by Michael Howcroft

Bilge Serin @noxyin.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Just City by the Med Research Network connects researchers investigating social justice and inequality in cities and exploring pathways towards just urban futures, through the context of the Mediterranean. Check justcitymed.org for details 👇

justcitymed.org

Just City by the Med

Research network exploring social justice and inequality in Mediterranean urban contexts.

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Reposted by Michael Howcroft

Civic Imaginary Partnerships @civicimaginaries.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

We are advertising an £11,000 commission for an artist to work with us in Frome between December 2025 and July 2026! Check out our website for full call details, including a link to an Expression of Interest form. Deadline is midnight Sunday 2nd November! civicimaginaries.gla.ac.uk/civic-imagin...

civicimaginaries.gla.ac.uk

» Civic Imaginaries of Frome: Creative Collaboration Call

this four-year project brings together communities, policy makers, researchers and artists to ask what being civic means in the United Kingdom right now

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Reposted by Michael Howcroft

Civic Imaginary Partnerships @civicimaginaries.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Last week we ran an art and animation activity at the Freedom Centre Family Fun Day in Hull! We invited attendees to collage a face of someone who has power in their lives and made them come to life using stop motion animation. Learn more about the event on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

linkedin.com

Last week we visited the Marfleet community in Hull for The Freedom Centre Hull Family Fun Day! | Civic Imaginary Partnerships

Last week we visited the Marfleet community in Hull for The Freedom Centre Hull Family Fun Day! With Peter Snelling and Julia Colley from My Pockets film company and Safiye Özge Subaşı, our fabulous a...

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Policy and urban co-production are embedded through all levels of governance in Bologna and the Foundation of Urban Innovation is at the centre of this work, leading on (amongst other things) Collaboration Pacts which support how the 3rd sector and municipality work together.

The image on the right is of the interior of Salaborsa. Once a fortress, botanical garden, basketball and boxing arena, trading centre, restaurant, bank, and a puppet theatre, it's now one of the most important public libraries in Bologna, a hub for community activities and an interface of civic action.

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

They represented a pioneering example of engagement in local politics, centring on the idea of a ‘civic consortium’ & a planning policy that engaged peripheral neighbourhoods - starting a series of social & urban experiments in the municipality that continues to this day.

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Meet Giuseppe Dossetti, who ran, unsuccessfully, for Mayor of Bologna in 1956. Though he lost the election (to the legendary communist mayor Giuseppe Dozza), aspects of his manifesto (Il libro bianco per Bologna), were taken up by the administration.

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

The intervention encourages reflection on the loss of place-identity, depopulation & urban decay happening in many Italian cities and cities across the world. As the local press report on the growth of the ‘bamboo’, they are also charting the rising number of abandoned buildings & absent landlords.

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

During conversations & walks with my fab hosts at the University of Bologna, I learned about different practices & geographies of civic care. E.g. the ‘Freak of Nature’ of Emilia Romagna: an anonymous artist who paints images of bamboo stalks, and numbers the windows of empty and abandoned shops.

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Bologna: A thread. ❤️🔱 For our @civicimaginaries.bsky.social project I have had three fantastic weeks in Bologna, learning about the city’s long history of neighbourhood action, the municipality’s approach to participation and commitment to policy co-production. Look out for a blog series soon.

The images here are of the city’s famous porticoes and towers, striking features of Bologna’s civic identity and examples of how the built environment can radically shape place through social interaction.

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Reposted by Michael Howcroft

Civic Imaginary Partnerships @civicimaginaries.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Hello world! Excited to share our new project's website. Funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, the 4-year Civic Imaginary Partnerships Project brings together communities, policymakers, researchers and artists to ask what being civic means in the UK right now civicimaginaries.gla.ac.uk

civicimaginaries.gla.ac.uk

Civic Imaginary Partnerships

this four-year project brings together communities, policy makers, researchers and artists to ask what being civic means in the United Kingdom right now

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Michael Howcroft @michaelhowcroft.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Applications are open for PhD Scholarship ‘Civic imaginaries of Glasgow’. Closing date 31 March 2025. V grateful if folks could share with networks & especially with current Masters students who might be interested. eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

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