Unfolding social sustainability and co-creation processes in social work: an Italian multiple case study

This paper explores how and if co-creation processes can enhance the social sustainability of public welfare services. To this end, a qualitative multiple case study was conducted in three Italian local contexts. Although participation is often cited as one of the pillars of social sustainability, there is limited empirical research investigating how participatory practices can be consolidated into inclusive, lasting, community-oriented welfare systems. This study employs a multiple case study approach, focusing on three co-creation initiatives promoted by public welfare services in Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Trentino-Alto Adige. Cross-case analysis of 31 semi-structured interviews revealed four dynamics linking co-creation to social sustainability: generating social capital, redistributing decision-making power, activating collective learning processes, and ensuring community representativeness. However, these outcomes do not occur automatically, but rather in contexts that present institutional continuity, critical management, and the recognition of experiential knowledge as enabling conditions for social sustainability. Rather than proposing an ideal replicable model, this paper offers interpretative insights to help understand the conditions that enable co-creation processes to facilitate socially sustainable practices.