Public-private partnerships with the third sector on risk awareness and management: Friuli Venezia Giulia case study

Friuli Venezia Giulia, located in the far northeast of Italy, is characterized by extensive areas exposed to hydrogeological risk, including landslides and slope failures, due to its natural geomorphology. The region’s northernmost areas were shaped by glaciations, resulting in numerous steep slopes. Within this context of widespread risk, raising public awareness and ensuring continuous monitoring of territorial changes become crucial.

From a legal perspective, the concept of “risk” is inherently complex to define: it represents both a subjective perception, in sociological terms, and an objective scientific datum derived from the application of predictive models. Therefore, enhancing knowledge of geological hazards in a high-risk territory is an objective that cannot be achieved without the active participation of society. Examples such as northern Friuli Venezia Giulia—where large portions of land are simultaneously subject to geological risk and to phenomena of progressive depopulation or, in some extents, repopulation—constitute formidable laboratories for innovative solutions. This stems from the premise that public policies addressing such phenomena originate from risk perception. Even a geological event occurring in a remote area can generate significant consequences for the population and the region as a whole: if the phenomenon is not acknowledged, though, it becomes irrelevant in public policies.

Territorial characteristics of the case study also demonstrate that traditional models, even when disseminated through new social media, prove inadequate, as they fail to reach the entire population, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized groups—those most exposed to risk. At the same time, in a phase of contraction of public spending, implementing awareness programs becomes increasingly difficult. Moreover, awareness-raising is often perceived as an onerous task incompatible with the urgency of emergency response. Nevertheless, fostering public awareness generates essential knowledge for determining interventions, especially in disadvantaged areas. This creates a co-generative system of knowledge, awareness, and co-determination of public policies.

Furthermore, reliance on “artificial” models entails the risk of cognitive biases, which frequently distort the perception of phenomena. The growing diversification of the population, as opposed to homogenization of digital tools, thus constitutes the premise for third sector intervention in the proposed case study. third sector can be defined as the sum of a multifaceted set of actors closely connected to communities and territories, capable of identifying needs and perceptions and channeling them toward policy-makers. The proposed case study therefore aims to explore possible hypotheses of public–private partnerships in generating risk awareness in mountain areas characterized by progressive demographic heterogeneity and social phenomena such as aging. The objective is to demonstrate how the co-generation of social value through community collaboration is fundamental for disseminating the perception of geological risk as the primary form of risk response. At the same time, the goal to show that partnerships with third sector entities are essential for creating effective public policies, as they produce irreplaceable knowledge. Such partnerships may take various forms, ranging from the establishment of associations to the implementation of services managed by third sector organizations; the advantages and disadvantages of these different solutions will be examined.