Background: Existing literature has declared migrant integration as social stress putting communities under pressure. Dynamics of social innovations and digital technologies can provide solutions to the pressing matter of migrant integration, yet the academic literature is obscure about processes that organisations employ in this matter. Purpose: This study aims to investigate how the process of digital social innovation unfolds in organisations. The main purpose of this study seeks to answer the research question: How do organisations undertake the process of digital social innovations in relation to migrant integration? Method: To answer the research question, a qualitative research approach was chosen. Multiple case study was carried out, and the empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. The content of the company websites and other additional material were used as a complementary source of information. The scope of participants was delimited to Sweden and Germany due to a high level of immigration in these countries. After data collection, the analysis was carried out in an abductive manner. Conclusion: The findings showed that the social innovation process is intertwined with the context where the actor acts as a mediator between the two. Two models were combined to gain both theoretical and practical insights without excluding one another. A suggested digital social innovation process model was then introduced in pursuit of providing a model that could be used in academia to annex scattered literature and to use the model in practice as a foundation for the innovation process.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:22:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elisabete Barbosa Castanheira.pdf: 5199897 bytes, checksum: 7ed3a77c8d6358cd6933c346c91ceda0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-01-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The presence of creativity in contemporary society occurs across the board. As growth driver is the source of many other concepts. Between the concepts from John Howkins (Creative Economy) and Richard Florida (Creative Class), creativity goes beyond the artistic context and became an active agent in solving complex problems, particularly in cities. After large scales, creativity becomes perceived on a smaller scale: creative practices resulting from urban micro planning, arising from the base, the perception of a local need. Are the Bottom Up initiatives, whose proliferation can occur in unusual territory and whose notability has manifested itself in increasing cadence. This work crosses the versatility of some hybrid urban structures, similarly present in the cities of Paris, New York and São Paulo (the Promenade Plantée, the High Line and the High Costa e Silva, also known as Minhocão), to score the micro scale nontechnological innovation within the city, the creative practices that hybridize, reframe and invent territories. / A presença da criatividade na sociedade contemporânea se dá de forma transversal. Como vetor de crescimento, está na origem de inúmeros outros conceitos. Da Economia Criativa de John Howkins à Classe Criativa de Richard Florida, a criatividade extrapola o âmbito artístico para se instalar como agente ativo na solução de problemas complexos, particularmente nas cidades. Primeiramente em megaescalas, posteriormente a criatividade passa a ser percebida em uma escala menor: as práticas criativas resultantes de microplanejamentos urbanos, que surgem a partir da base, da percepção de uma necessidade local. São as iniciativas Bottom Up, cuja proliferação pode se dar em territórios inusitados e cuja notabilidade tem se manifestado em cadência crescente. O presente trabalho atravessa a polivalência de algumas estruturas urbanas híbridas, similarmente presentes nas cidades de Paris, Nova York e São Paulo (respectivamente: o Promenade Plantée, o High Line e o Elevado Costa e Silva, também conhecido como Minhocão), para pontuar a micro escala da inovação não tecnológica no âmbito da cidade, as práticas criativas que hibridizam, resignificam e inventam territórios.

Municipal bottom-up urban development is growing into an increasingly common urban practice. However, bottom-up urban development differs considerably from conventional top-down planning. The discrepancy forms obstacles for the relationship between top-down and bottom-up actors. Yet, creating an enabling relationship is possible, although how it can be realized is rather underexamined. Therefore, the aim of this research is to contribute knowledge to how municipalities can enable citizen-led urban initiatives. Empirical research in Stockholm and Istanbul, based on four examples of citizen-led urban initiatives and one municipal representative, provided valuable insights. On the one hand, within the existing municipal framework, certain possibilities and constraints for municipal bottom-up urban development arise. However, aiming to creating a structural change that transforms the relationship, new urban governance arrangements need to be established at the local level. From a governance innovation perspective, implementing a neighborhood council and a municipal guide form feasibly possibilities. Especially its combination is found key to redeem most of the constraints while it has the potential to establish socially innovative urban development.