Social innovation as a ‘magic concept’ for policy-makers and its implications for urban governance

This article proposes a critical reflection on the concept of social innovation, arguing that it can be understood as a ‘magic concept’ as theorized by Pollitt and Hupe. It is a pervasive and positive notion in academia, policies and politics. The notion of social innovation is therefore deconstructed into the characteristics that make it so seductive: the multiplicity of meanings it can take on, its positive normative charge, its ability to generate consensus and its global marketability. This investigation underlines the way in which the understanding of social innovation may have profound repercussions in the ways in which decision-makers are reshaping urban governance.