Reti che competono, territori che uniscono. La costruzione organizzativa di un’esperienza di co-progettazione

Co-design is a form of collaboration between public and private actors that goes beyond the more traditional procedures of service contracting. In this collaborative process, consensus between actors has to be created and maintained, both at the beginning and in itinere. This article examines a co-design experience involving meta-organisations, an inter-municipal foundation and several consortia of social co-operatives. This particular configuration of the network of actors increased the complexity of programme governance. Moreover, the experience occurred before the third sector's reform in a higher uncertain regulatory framework. The results highlight the need for the public actor to develop an institutional leadership capacity to coordinate activities at the administrative level and maintain the continuity of consensus that, albeit with difficulty, the organisations involved have achieved.