Ecosocial Community Work: Tensions, Transformations and Situated Practices in Italian Local Welfare Services

Ecosocial work is increasingly presented as a response to intertwined social and ecological crises, yet its concrete configurations remain underexamined. Drawing on a national research project PRIN 2022 ECOSOW in Italy, this article explores how ecosocial principles are interpreted and enacted within local welfare systems, based on 54 interviews with social workers, coordinators and policy-makers involved in initiatives that combine social aims with environmental concerns. Through reflexive thematic analysis, the study conceptualises ecosocial community work as a field structured by situated tensions rather than as a predefined model. The findings identify tensions between episodic projects and lasting practices, individual responsibility and collective co-responsibility, restorative and transformative orientations, formalised and co-created processes, and passive and proactive professional roles. Ecosocial community work takes shape through the negotiation of these tensions, which drives its transformative potential. Despite instability and limited institutional support, favourable territorial conditions allow ecosocial orientations to consolidate into practices that connect social care with ecological responsibility. In this sense, ecosocial community work signals a shift in local welfare toward shared responsibility and ecosocial justice.