Entrepreneurship, inclusion or co-production? An attempt to assess territorial elements in social innovation literature

This paper stems from the need to find a renewed interpretative key of the concept of social innovation in territorial approaches: this was done by observing different forms of research, as well as methodological-disciplinary perspectives. To this end, the analysis is based on a systematic review: on one hand, considering the presence of the keyword social innovation combined with the concepts of entrepreneurship, inclusion and co-production; on the other hand, it addresses the presence or absence of any territorial or urban perspective. The aim of the review is to get a better understanding of urban/territorial elements present in the current social innovation academic landscape, and to identify new directions toward which different approaches to SI entail applications to the urban policy field. •An in-depth theoretical discussion on the relevance of the territorial perspective in the field of social innovation studies is provided•A systematic literature review on social innovation scholarship is provided assessing the presence of urban/territorial elements in the current academic debate•The systematic review provided becomes an expedient to reflect on possible social innovation implications in urban policies