Chapter 13Activating AskingCities in institutions, universities and the Third Sector

Activating AskingCities in a city means weaving an intelligent alliance between institutions that are very different from each other but united by the same purpose: to improve the civic life of the city through meaningful connections. This chapter explains how AskingCities is integrated into three key institutional domains – universities, public administrations and the third sector – and how each brings a different type of energy, legitimacy and capacity. When these three pillars act as a network and not a hierarchy, AskingCities acquires depth, scope and real sustainability.

13.1A fundamental principle: AskingCities does not belong to any institution#

The basic condition for activating AskingCities correctly is that no institution owns it. AskingCities belongs to the city as a whole, not to a university department, not to a municipal authority, not to a large social organization. When an institution tries to appropriate the model, the system becomes unbalanced, narratives are distorted, and fluidity disappears. Instead, when each institution understands that AskingCities is a distributed civic operating system and that its role is to act as an active node within a broader network, the model naturally expands. No one institution controls AskingCities; they all support it.

13.2The University: the intellectual, relational and human engine of AskingCities#

Universities play a central role in an AskingCity, not because they occupy a higher hierarchical position, but because they have a combination of resources that is difficult to replicate. They provide social legitimacy, intellectual capital, convening capacity, thousands of students with diverse energy and skills, teachers committed to impact, departments with a vocation for service and spaces or laboratories that can be used strategically at key moments. This diversity makes the university a natural bridge between sectors that do not normally interact. Organizations often see it as a neutral actor, capable of generating trust and offering profiles that can be easily trained as AskAuthors. In addition, it allows learning to be institutionalized through projects, subjects, curricular practices or applied research, and facilitates the narrative dissemination of the model, since the stories linked to the university have a significant cultural impact.

To activate AskingCities within a university, it is key to identify a small driving team with civic sensitivity, offer them solid initial training and detect availability of people or spaces. From there, the needs of the third sector can be connected with academic or student projects, activate the first quick wins within the university environment and incorporate the AskingCities logic into institutional conversations on social responsibility, local impact or service-learning.

13.3Public administrations: territorial legitimacy and capacity for articulation#

Local administrations do not have unlimited resources, but they have something that no other organization can match: territorial capacity, institutional legitimacy and power of articulation between diverse actors. A city council can open doors, mediate between institutions that are not known, mobilize thematic areas such as youth, participation, culture or education, connect AskingCities with city strategies, offer public visibility to quick wins and provide temporary stability to the project. It is important to realize that universities and local authorities are also a major source of giving, in particular Expertise and Time.

The challenge is to avoid two common pitfalls. The first is to turn AskingCities into a municipal program, which removes its simplicity and blocks its independence. The second is to delegate to the administration the responsibility of solving AskingCities, forgetting that the administration should accompany, not direct.

To activate the model in this area, it is useful to start conversations with areas sensitive to the AskingCities purpose, identify technical people with a community vocation, start with small and concrete collaborations, avoid structured committees too early, allow the model to grow first in the city and then in offices, and use quick wins as a way to gain internal legitimacy. Well-targeted management boosts AskingCities without smothering it.

13.4The Third Sector: the emotional and operational heart of AskingCities#

The Third Sector – from voluntary organisations to community associations, NGOs, foundations, registered charities and social cooperatives – constitutes the emotional and operational heart of the model. It is in this sector where the most authentic needs and the stories with the greatest transformative capacity emerge. It brings in-depth knowledge of the terrain, social sensitivity, extensive community networks, long-term commitment, cultural diversity, and a living narrative that reflects the reality of the city.

To activate AskingCities in this area, it is essential to create safe spaces that allow listening without haste, build trust before asking for commitments and select quick wins that are respectful and meaningful for the organizations involved. It is also necessary to avoid administrative overload as many third sector entities operate under permanent pressure. Activation is most powerful when reciprocity is practiced: not only are needs received, but capabilities are returned. The third sector is the place where AskingCities breathes, humanizes and legitimizes itself.

13.5The final key: building a network, not a structure#

A mature AskingCity is configured as a living network in which each institution knows its role, trusts the others, contributes what it has, avoids competition, renounces control and allows the model to transform it. The magic happens when the university brings AskAuthors and legitimacy, the administration provides outreach and coordination, the third sector contributes authentic needs and social sensitivity, and AskingCities acts as the bridge that keeps everything connected.

An AskingCity that operates as a network – and not as a rigid structure – develops its own civic identity, a culture of collaboration and a real capacity to grow sustainably. It is in that network that AskingCities finds its most powerful form and its most natural expression.