Introduction The development of the Swedish and Italian models:getting two points of view on local welfare Goteborg's district reform The Italian context and the new reform Talking about local citizenship The decentralized city What's a social-democratic regime of welfare state? District reform and its effects on citizenship The process of building up a new local welfare Strenghts, weaknesses and future perspectives How did the new istitutional frame of references contribute to improve the building process of local welfae? How did the district reform affect social services with regard to the building processof the local welfare? In which way is the Goteborg's model to strengthen social citizenship distinguished from the Italian one?