Vela celeste in Scampia, , an innovative community engagement project

The second requirement is comprehensiveness: participation must cover all phases of the project, from the initial context recognition to the definition of objectives and the choice of strategies to achieve them.

The third requirement is transparency: the flow of communication must be constant and comprehensive, information asymmetries must be avoided, and training activities must be contemplated to remedy knowledge gaps on the issues to be discussed.

Fourth requirement is empowerment: everyone must be given a real opportunity to be involved both in decision-making processes, directly or indirectly, and to express their preferences to political representatives, and in the evaluation of the outcomes of the choices made and of the community engagement process itself through periodic feedback.

The fifth requirement is a strong sense of belonging to an area and a strong collective identity, which in turn fosters and fosters feelings of mutual trust among community members and towards institutional actors.

All this is also necessary to fulfil the last and very important requirement, namely the willingness of the future residents to collaborate and take on commitments and responsibilities, not only in the design phase, but also in the implementation and management of the common spaces. This last aspect must be emphasised as particularly critical. Many utopian projects, born with the best of intentions, have, like the Vele in Naples, had dystopian outcomes, not only because of errors in design, poor quality of materials, lack of services and poor governance of public affairs, but also because the common spaces were not manned and fully experienced by residents, allowing criminal organisations to take possession of the commons and exercise violent control over the territory.

The Celestial Sail Project seems to meet these requirements, but it will need to be constantly monitored, to point out any errors and make proposals for refinement and further development.

The involvement of communities in the design and implementation of projects for reform, reconstruction and change is an effective antidote to the decline or distortion of citizens' participation in democratic life, which is, in turn, one of the most serious symptoms of the crisis in democratic politics, alongside the crisis in the parties, the decline in the percentage of voters, and growing disaffection and distrust in institutions.

The decline of participation cannot be replaced either by so-called 'net democracy', which has often turned out to be a caricature of direct democracy (as in the online endorsements of questions pre-packaged by those at the top of the movement) nor by national-populist movements and parties that, while on the one hand, responding to a real strong need for identity and belonging on the part of many citizens, on the other hand stiffen the democratic dialectic with the traditional appeal to nationalist ideology and populist rhetoric based on the opposition between us (the patriots or the 'good' people by definition) and them (the foreigners, immigrants or corrupt elites), fuelling the risks of war and causing a retreat from political and civil rights nor by antagonistic protest movements incapable of formulating credible alternative proposals, often focused on the defence of highly particularistic interests (such as the nimby movements).

On the other hand, the role played by volunteering in the so-called 'Third Sector' is useful and appreciable, a varied set of solidaristic activities carried out by people who interpret and take charge of the needs and demands of socially fragile groups, activities that however often come up against the difficulty of involving the recipients in actions of common interest.

This is why well-constructed initiatives of community engagement such as the Celestial Sail in Scampia are a virtuous example of renewed trust in democracy.

Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Milan