LA PIATTAFORMA CAMBIA L’ARENA? Un’analisi dello spazio partecipativo del Forum nazionale per lo sviluppo sostenibile in ParteciPA/ Does the platform reshape the arena? An analysis of the participatory space of the National Forum for Sustainable Development in ParteciPA

Abstract

This article analyses the integration of Italy’s digital platform ParteciPA into the National Forum for Sustainable Development, drawing on qualitative evidence from the 2022 co-design and testing phases, institutional documents, and the online consultation. The study shows that the platform embeds itself in an already institutionalised participatory setting without reshaping access, representation, or interaction. ParteciPA mainly reinforces communicative and documentary functions, while limited dialogue, uneven digital skills, ambiguous representation, and opaque synthesis procedures reproduce long-standing structural constraints. Rather than enabling more deliberative or influential engagement, digitalisation consolidates existing consultative dynamics and asymmetries. The article concludes that meaningful digital participation depends on institutional capacity and solid procedural design, as technology alone cannot address weak governance architectures.

Keywords:

Top-down Participation; Sustainable Development; Open Government; ParteciPA; National Forum for Sustainable Development.