The shift from monocratic systems of government to those of representative democracy has led to the emergence of theories based on the application of systems theory (Von Bertalanffy, 1969; McLoughlin, 1969, Luhmann, 1984) in the construction of public policy and planning approaches. In this framework, different social components perform a specific function and relate to other components. Among these functional differentiations, that between the state and citizenship takes on particular relevance. If one follows the logic of complex systems (Maturana and Varela, 1985 ; Von Foerster 1984; Atlan 1979), applied to the sciences of politics and territory (Cavallaro, 1995), the separation between the functions of systems can be overcome and one can move toward models of participatory and deliberative democracy, in which state-apparatus and citizenship are parts of the same element.
The commons approach (Ostrom, 2006), and especially the urban commons approach, definitely moves in this direction, which allows the apparatus state and the citizen-state to co-govern: co-decide and co-manage.
The paper analyzes in depth the Italian situation - with particular reference to Turin (Segapeli 2022; 2024) -, where cities are moving toward forms of participatory democracy in the governance of commons (City regulations) that design new roles for formal and informal neighborhood groups and associations, according to experimental collaborative patterns and new forms of governance. Admittedly, the state legislative framework, with its proliferation of codes and regulations on administrative procedures and accountability and safety, still remains structured according to an authoritative model (the state authorizing, granting, sanctioning), which holds back momentum for change. Whereas the urban commons approach needs appropriate forms of governance in which the translation from the ineluctability to the universe of the possibles is achievable, that is, from the single all-embracing vision (the state) to the variety of scenarios produced by the multitude.
