Bridging regional gaps: Community-based cooperatives as a tool for Italian inner areas resilience

Abstract

This paper addresses the topic of a new enterprise model called Community-Based Cooperatives and their contribution to inner areas development and land care. This issue is currently the subject of a growing body of academic literature. The aim of the research is to propose a methodological path designed to highlight and manage the generating processes of community-based cooperatives in Italian inner areas. The methods employed concern multivariate statistical techniques, together with text analysis, to process the outcomes of a direct survey based on open responses. The results show the great importance of these cooperatives, which are considered as a factor capable of contributing to the reduction of regional gaps. Community-based cooperatives can arrest demographic decline by offering collective services, such as mobility and elderly care, and creating job opportunities in profit sectors, such as agriculture and land maintenance. They can restore social capital and, through it, natural and artificial capital, which are at the basis of Italian inner areas resilience and rebirth. The potential role of these cooperatives calls for a rethinking of regional policies and planning.