A Model of Public Resources Allocation for Social Investments on Urban Districts: The Case of a Northern Italian Metropolitan Area

The municipality of an Italian town is trying to apply a new procedure for the assignment of financial resources to decentralized urban districts, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of intervention in social services, and reducing the differences between zones. The main features of this project are a) to change from a procedure based on sectorial budget allocation to a procedure based on comprehensive "zonal needs;" b) to give urban districts the power to make the decision of suballocation of the assigned amount of resources, so experiencing a "participative" process of urban management; and c) to create a two-level informative structure, integrated with the planning process. A model is presented which evaluates comparatively the amount of resources to be assigned in every district for local plans, comparing "social demand" of public services with the "offer" of corresponding facilities in each district. Both demand and offer are reported to the socioeconomic conditions of district population and are influenced by other general context evaluations. The model has been constructed within this "participative" process; its application has produced results quoted as "satisfactory" by the actors in the decision process.