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Poverty dynamics and the ability of the Italian welfare system to reduce poverty are investigated by using the 1991‐1995 panel of the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Households most exposed to poverty live in the South, have a larger size, a young or female head, with a low educational level or a discontinuous work profile. The dynamic and static effectiveness (in terms of poverty reduction) of social transfers is analysed, as well as the factors affecting exclusion from the safety net. A closer look is taken at the effects of a minimum income guarantee in the experimental phase in Italy.

This paper highlights to what extent an emporium of solidarity may affect poverty conditions of its recipients, and whether it generates net social benefits to different actors involved.

To evaluate the effect of an emporium of solidarity project on poverty conditions of its recipients, we run Probit estimation models. As for the efficiency evaluation, we develop instead a social cost–benefit framework which considers benefits and costs to different actors somehow involved in the program. Results are based on survey data collected by the authors and administrative data.

Using the emporium attendance length as a measure of the treatment intensity, results underscore that the emporium significantly reduces the monetary poverty only, while it is ineffective on the severe material deprivation. The robustness of our results is confirmed by the implementation of a propensity score matching estimator. Our study suggests that emporia can be efficient in term of resources usage and they can determine positive returns to actors involved, implementing a redistribution of goods toward poor households.

The paper and its conclusions are based on a case study, thus an Italian emporium called “Portobello” and located in the inner-city area of Modena (Emilia-Romagna region, Italy).

The main novelty of our paper to the literature consists of the elaboration of a first comprehensive framework for the social impact assessment of an emporium of solidarity, regarding both its effects on socio-economic conditions of poor recipient households and its contribution to the local welfare as a whole.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an evaluation model to support the decisions made by Public Administrations that influence urban regeneration and social housing to be implemented with the involvement of private investors.

Carried out with reference to an Italian regional territory, the model, subject to the constraint of financial feasibility for the private investor and the conditions of the local real estate market, allows to define: the maximum amount of social housing, as a percentage of the housing planned, to be sustained by the private investors; the administered price of sale and/or lease of the social housing; the exchange-factor of the area to be redeveloped.

The outcome of the research highlights the utility of the model as a tool to support the decisions made by Public Administrations in relation to urban planning.

The model, in addition to being simple to use, is extremely flexible and can be applied without any major changes in the structure and the type of information required in different spatial contexts.

The work intends to contribute to the achievement of the European objectives of Horizon 2020 that, with the initiative named “Smart Cities and Communities”, deals with urban themes and social issues, ensuring a strong economic impact of funded activities.

The proposed methodology allows to monitor the land use transformations and, since it is also applicable to historical and architectural buildings, it is an innovative system for the sustainable protection and promotion of cultural heritage as a driver of social cohesion as well as the creation of jobs.