Urban blog as a strategic instrument in the local development and in the governance of urban area

In recent years social networks have undergone an apparent process of expansion. The purpose of this article is to approach the subject of urban blogs as an instrument of promoting and improving public involvement, public services, innovation and local development. This paper focuses on identifying new tools that might help to improve the quality of the services offered by local organisations: usage of web 2.0 helps not simply support and encourage more active participation from behalf of the citizens, it makes it available to the society as a public channel through which various experiences can be revealed, communicated and shared. Using the postulates of the theory of networks, we will examine how urban blogs have been implemented in Italy, concentrating on a particular case study: the urban blog created for San Paolo neighbourhood in Turin thanks to the joint efforts applied by Turin City Council, Laboratorio Vigone and Smartlab. We want to prove that urban blogs represent an excellent way to promote territorial development because they offer an easily accessible knowledge accumulated in local areas, addressing issues of interest for both young and senior citizens, as well as such categories of population as entrepreneurs, unemployed, tourists, public societies and institutions.