"Possible trajectories to navigate neo-liberal urbanism in UK. Hybrid organisations to implement activist planning"

This article approaches the crisis of planning and the 2008 economic crisis as parallel phenomena, which affect, but do not depend on, each other. Concerning the former, it highlights the emergence of new forms of planning that resist neoliberal policies and emerge as alternatives to top-down approaches. The paper focuses on a new, proactive figure in planning processes, outlined by Tore Sager, the "activist planner". Concerning the latter, the paper highlights the emergence ofnew forms of value production. These seem directed towards a hybrid model,where the social dimension is overlapped with economic, and where the social enterprise emerge as the predominant organisations. By analysing the relations between activist planning and social enterprise, this paper seeks to understand how top-down and bottom-up approaches can be combined. Could a social entrepreneur be considered as an active planner? How can social entrepreneurs contribute, in terms of governance and transformation of an area? These questions have been explored through a qualitative case studyabout Real Ideas Organisation (RIO), a cultural social enterprise in UK engaged in the regeneration process of Devonport (Plymouth). The collected data has been elaborated with the Social Return On Investment (SROI) analysis, which is useful to reflect on the social impact that RIO is producing in terms of circular process and synergy between existent social and cultural resources.