WP 132 | 23 The vitality of people and places

The idea of vitality is the ability of an actor or a collectivity of actors to enact a series of actions that reflect their creativity and are consistent with self-actualization outcomes for themselves and others. Such actions-through appropriate processes-reflect positive values for self and others. We identify an original typology that confronts situations of unreceptive dynamism and widespread vitality. We then hypothesize the factors that support the latter, namely inclusive organization, cooperative behavior, balanced relationships, adaptive governance, and low lock-in. We illustrate this with examples from music education in Trentino, Italy. We believe that the focus on viability is very timely, as the more standard notions of competitiveness, creativity and innovation suffer from being either extraordinarily optimistic cures for our economies, or quick and easy recommendations that advocates of neoliberalism pass on to managers and politicians.

JEL Codes

O1; O15; L2