Evaluation Research and Evaluativity in Social Planning: Towards a Fluent Evaluation Model

Actually, evaluation research underlying social programming at a local level is oriented towards a participatory, consensual and mutually shared decisional dynamics regarding co-evolutionary social actors locally situated. The epistemo- logical foundation of social planning can be quite well represented through its own engineering connotation, able to show the unmistakable link between the theoretical questions about social change, its analysis and interpretation, and the empirical nature of social intervention. Therefore, a new partially innovative theoretical dimension of decision making process is required to be built, with the aim to recognize a “residential identity” of individuals, communities and even institutions, allowing the best reciprocal communication about a desirable future for the nec- essary political response to emerging social needs. That’s why such a dimension is called “Evaluativity”, intended as a strategical environment containing visions, preferences and projections about what decision makers are able to represent and invoke as a good and plausible scenario for social planning. “Fluent Evaluation” is the proposal of this new way to read, analyze and operate through residential identity and reaching for the best efficacy on the new challenges of social policies.