The Municipality of Reggio Emilia
Mario Minoja & Elisa Mori
(University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Research project:
“Common good and responsible behavior in firms and institutions”
Department of communication and economics (UNIMORE)
Institute of Firm Values - Istituto dei Valori d’Impresa (ISVI)
1
Reggio Emilia demographic and socioeconomic structure
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172.525 inhabitants (end of 2013): +15,3% than in 2002
(533.860 in the entire province territory)
18,2% immigrants in 2013 (6,6% in 2002) vs. 7,4% in Italy
Per‐capita income (2013): € 26.833 (Italy 19.660)
Employment rate 65,8% (Emilia-Romagna 66,3%, Italy 55,6%,
UE27 64,2%): 15° position in Italy as a province (2014)
Unemployment rate 6,6% (Emilia-Romagna 8,3%, Italy
12,7%, UE27 10,1%): 5° position in Italy as a province (2014)
56.041 firms in the province territory in 2014 (1 for 9,5
inhabitants)
Seventh in Italy in terms of number of young (under 30
years) entrepreneurs
Continuous increase in foreign entrepreneurship (4.734 in
2013) against a drop in the number of Italian entrepreneurs
(31.796 in 2013)
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Reggio Emilia economic structure
• A strong manufacturing industry
– 37,1% of value added of the province
– Mechanical and “mechatronics”; textile-clothing and fashion; food
(“Parmigiano-Reggiano” cheese); wine (Lambrusco); ceramic tiles
• A system of small and medium-sized enterprises
– 76,5% with less than 50 employees
– organized in industrial districts, networks and value-chains:
mechanical and “mechatronics”, ceramic tiles; textile and knitwear.
• Top export performance
– 8.963 million euro in 2014 (import: 3.600 million)
– An upward trend from 2000
– 59% of value added of the province from export (vs. an average of 25%
in Italy)
• Strong cooperative system in industries such as construction, food,
consumer retail, services, etc.
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Composition of value added
The higher share of manufacturing value added (37,1%) in province of
Reggio Emilia than in Italy (25%) and even in the Emilia-Romagna
region (31%) reflects a strong manufacturing tradition and culture.
60.7%
66.9%
73.1%
Servizi
Industria
Agricoltura
37.1%
2.1%
Reggio nell'Emilia
31.0%
2.1%
Emilia-Romagna
25.0%
1.8%
Italia
Export from Reggio Emilia (province)
2000-2014
10,000,000,000
8,962,551,518
9,000,000,000
8,617,395,054
8,450,622,657
8,341,578,113
8,433,505,681
8,100,230,294
8,000,000,000
7,390,615,731
7,330,607,480
7,000,000,000
6,445,803,298
6,426,173,987
5,822,937,652
6,000,000,000
5,396,478,899
5,267,216,936
5,159,869,291
4,987,533,400
5,000,000,000
4,000,000,000
3,000,000,000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
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Public-Private Partnerships (1)
• During her three electoral mandates (1991-2004) as mayor,
Antonella Spaggiari launched public-private partnerships as a
way to realize some valuable and ambitious (expensive, longlasting and far reaching) projects for the city:
• requalification of the city center (recovery of abandoned old buildings)
• restoration of historical buildings (Basilica of Ghiara, Reggio Emilia’s
Cathedral, San Prospero’s Church)
• a new campus of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
• high-speed train station (inaugurated in 2013) of “Reggio Emilia AV
Mediopadana” (designed by Calatrava, a Spanish “archistar”)
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Public-Private Partnerships (2)
• The partnership framework and logic …
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Entrepreneurial role of the Mayor (project launch; involvement of local
associations of firms and cooperatives; of banks and foundations; activation
of political contacts and networks inside and outside Reggio, at regional or
national level; fund raising at multiple levels)
Ad hoc organizational structures (companies or committees) led (following
efficiency and transparency criteria) by private people (well-know local
entrepreneurs and/or professionals) with several, intertwined goals: project
communication, consensus building, local fund raising
Financial multi-year contributions of firm associations and individual firms
• … and values
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Consistency with overarching vision and projects going beyond local views
and interests: the new Italian high speed rail system, etc.
Leverage on cultural and aesthetic (not only economic) value of the projects
Emulative dynamics
Strong cohesion of public powers, associations of firms, individual
entrepreneurs, individual citizens.
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The new administration: the identification of
“distinctive competencies” driving the Reggio
Emilia strategy
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Graziano Delrio became Mayor of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia in 2004
The first Delrio’s electoral mandate (2004-2009) was oriented to move from a direct
delivery of public services (government) to a more stakeholder-centered logic way of
identifying and satisfying citizens’ needs (governance)
January 31, 2009  start of the second Delrio’s electoral mandate and presentation of
the "Stati Generali” of the City: a set of local stakeholders’ meetings aimed at building
and sharing a vision and a strategy for the city. Three major challenges were identified:
A strong
community
ensuring
Knowledge,
participation,
autonomous and
safe life
A strong and
competitive
economy, ensuring
widespread wealth
and stable jobs
A high quality,
relationships
promoting,
sustainable
territory
Based on “distinctive competencies”
as development drivers
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Citizen's engagement in public services
production
• Historical orientation to public production of welfare services. However:
– increasing financial constraints imposed by the national government (“Stability
Pact”)
– a large number of voluntary organisations
– widespread civic sense and on voluntary organizations’ vitality
• Hence, involvement of citizens in public welfare service production
through two initiatives aimed at strengthening the "community welfare"
and endorsing and coordinating individual, voluntary contributions:
“I reggiani, per esempio” 
collect, sustain and endorse
good practices of active
citizenship (as individuals or in
associations)
97 projects were financed in
2012
“Anche tu per esempio” (1°
edition in 2010)  Municipality
and Third Sector Forum coorganizers of a public call to
volunteering.
About 375 people have started to
carry out stable volunteering in
local associations or for the
Municipality
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Communication strategy
• Creation of the brand “Reggio città delle persone”
• Dispersed communication offices unified in the
“Communication, External Relations and Marketing” Service,
which employs about 50 people (in charge of printing, press,
website’s editing, public relations, call center, graphics, video
production, social media) to ensure coordination and
communication effectiveness.
• Creation of more informal and friendly communication
formats for each policy (e.g. of public transportation: “Urban
Mobility Plan”  “New ideas in circulation”.
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A new organizational structure
• Since 2005, the Municipality of Reggio Emilia had been undertaking
an internal organization restructuring
• Integration between the services production’s functions (vertical
dimension - line), and the areas of policies, responsible for the
analysis, planning and evaluation of public policies (horizontal
dimension - staff), to ensure the integration of services
management and the strategic choices made by the Administration.
– Five functional areas: “Services to people”; “Services to the city”;
“Engineering and infrastructure management”; “Strategic planning”;
“General Management”
– Three policy areas : "The city of solidarity and social capital"; "The
Sustainable City"; "The city of university, knowledge and economic
development”.
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A new organizational structure
General
Management
Legal Office
Institutional Office
Financial Office
Strategic planning
Planning and
controlling Office
Services to people
Human Resources
Office
Services to the city
Information
systems and
technologies Office
Communication,
External Relations
and Marketing”
Office
Engineering and
infrastructure
management
The city of
solidarity and
social capital
The Sustainable
City
The city of
university,
knowledge and
economic
development
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Planning and control systems: «zerobased budget»
• Creation of the “Planning and Control” Service;
• Review of the strategic planning phase and of the
budget construction phase:
– From an historical orientation to an analysis of the needs
(zero-based budget);
– From the Executive Management Plan (Piano Esecutivo di
Gestione) to the Budget.
• Creation of the Observatory of public policies;
• Review of programming and control systems in order
to include subsidiaries and participated organizations
(service contracts, consolidated financial statement,
segment reporting).
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Human Resources Management
revision
It makes professional roles consistent with the organization…
• Revision of the professional categories;
• Development of professional profiles through a training plan to
fulfill skills gap;
• Development of multi-functionality, flexibility and specialization of
the professional profiles;
• Introduction of a new methodology for assessing managers and
other personnel. Assessment is functional to the allocation of
performance-related compensation and career advancement and
is linked to results and skills/knowledge.
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Financial information of the
Municipality of Reggio Emilia
• “Stability Pact” always respected;
• Current revenues showed an increasing trend from 113 million in
2004 to 168.5 in 2013 (+ 49%);
• Similarly, current expenses increased from 111.7 million in 2004 to
152.5 (+ 36.6%) in 2013;
• Investments gradually dropped from 73 million in 2004 to 22.7 in
2013 (-69%);
• Revenues from sales of assets, capital transfers and loans
decreased from 74.5 to 17.2 million (-77%);
• The amount of debts of the Municipality decreased by 40.3% in the
period 2005-2013 (97.5 million at the end of 2014).
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Results (1)
• Innovation and territory
– the «Area Nord Project»;
– requalification of the city center and financial support to commercial activities
(2009-2010);
• Welfare
– In 2010 a new organizational and governance model for social services
delivery has been created (from 1,900 accesses to the community centers in
2009 to 2,382 in 2013);
– strengthening of home care services for elderly, disabled and young people (in
the period 2009-2013 residential care for the elderly people has been
maintained, meals delivered to elderly people rise up to 52,000 and 4,000
minors in difficulty were taken into care);
– increasing of social housing (3.028 houses available in 2013; +18% from 2005);
• Education
– pre-school education is one of the distinctive competencies of Reggio Emilia
– the maintenance of the 0-3 years hold schooling rate to more than 40% and
kindergarten schooling rate (3-6 years) to 86% are two of the results achieved
in this field (period 2004-2013);
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Results (2)
• Social cohesion
– establishment of a network of associations that deal with Italian language and
culture teaching for foreign people (from 40 students in 2007 to 3,000 in 2013);
– creation of the “Immigration booth» and of some network to promote intercultural
dialogue in 2010;
• Sport and culture
– restructuring of historical buildings (San Pellegrino library and others, Cloister of
San Pietro, Padiglione Lombroso and City Museums);
– Since 2008, rationalization and consolidation of volunteering initiatives through the
project «I reggiani, per esempio» (97 projects were financed in 2012);
– 6 new sport facilities and 18 sport facilities restructured (period 2004-2013);
• Environment, urban quality and mobility
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enhancement of sustainable mobility and road maintenance;
- 9,7% CO2 emissions from 2009 to 2011;
196 km of cycle paths in 2014 (87 km in 2004)
increase of green spaces (57.32 square meters/per capita in 2013);
strengthening of recycling and other eco-friendly practices (eg. district heating);
• Administrative simplification
– simplification of the access to online services for citizens and companies (in 2013,
the 7,49% of the population required documents and certificates by the web).
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