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The concept of social innovation offers an alternative perspective on development and territorial transformation, one which foregrounds innovation in social relations. This volume presents a broad-ranging and insightful exploration of social innovation and how it can affect life, society and economy, especially within local communities. It addresses key questions about the nature of social innovation as a process and a strategy and explores what opportunities may exist, or may be generated, for social innovation to nourish human development. It puts forward alternative development options which variously highlight solidarity, co-operation, cultural-artistic endeavour and diversity. In doing so, this book offers a provocative response to the predominant neoliberal economic vision of spatial, economic and social change.

Community development --- Social capital (Sociology) --- 316.423 --- 330.342 --- Capital, Social (Sociology) --- Sociology --- Regional development --- Economic assistance, Domestic --- Social planning --- 330.342 Economische ontwikkeling. Groeistadia --- Economische ontwikkeling. Groeistadia --- 316.423 Sociale bewegingen --- Sociale bewegingen --- Citizen participation --- Government policy --- Community development. --- Développement communautaire --- Capital social (Sociologie)

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Thomas More constructed an island that emerged from his imaginations of what he considered to be an ideal society which he called Utopia. The conception of this island generated a series of literature that followed the same steps of imagined and crafted ideals. Utopia was seen in many different lights. The utopian genre has undergone intensive transformations and reconstructions to the point where it became necessary to specify and define the chosen utopian methodology. So, the challenge was to understand what it means to implement More’s Utopia onto an existing society to achieve a socially cohesive city. How would today’s utopian visions take form and how can it articulate the demands of a contemporary city? It is a methodology for generating change, alternate conditions, and a critique of the existing fabric. If it is seen in this view, then the utopian methodology should serve to advocate change in the city and have an impact in the way we live in our city. Created visions must be extracted from the existing problems and there should be conscious considerations for the existing social and political orders. In this research, Utopia is applied to the concrete existing city of Leuven. This will be done by studying the existing social order and tackling the socio-spatial problematic issues that exist today. There will then be a study of the social processes that exist within the city to study possible necessary changes. By analyzing the spatiality of the urban tissue of Leuven an ideal MetaLeuven may be created.

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Women are one of the key agents of socio-economic development. But in the course of their socio-economic agencies, and personal capacity building, they face a lot of difficulties. Especially rural women face more social, cultural and political constrains towards their emancipation and participation in socio-economic activities, which make them a marginalized group. Their participation is more likely to be seen as unpaid labour in the household works, though these works support the family to maintain social relations and economy as well. Women are active and involved in a significant way in all sorts of socio-economic activities. Also their social connections and conservation of traditional values tie up the loose bonds of society. The case of Aglasun has been taken as a case study to understand women’s role in emancipation and socio-economic agencies in community development dynamics. The research investigates women’s role from three strategic perspectives- individual, family and community and also attempts to explore women’s potential, constraints and limitations along the path of their emancipation and socio-economic participation so that their potential can be valorized for a socially innovative local development.