Sustainable rural development: The role of traditional activities in Central Italy

Abstract

Traditional farming systems and other activities such as craftsmanship (e.g. manufacturing activities, local food production), represent a sustainable example of human integration with nature. Their maintenance and development, with opportune adaptations to the current socio-economic situation and cultural/technological advancements, are therefore valuable. Under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), preference will be given to projects with a participative approach presented for funding covered by the Common Strategic Framework 2014–2020 programming. The challenge is to integrate participatory planning, people’s attitude to traditional work with the European strategy for rural development. LEADER actions are an effective tool suitable for the implementation of such local development policies.In this paper, a ground-breaking attitude model to traditional activities has been developed. A questionnaire was compiled on the basis of current literature on attitude models and distributed to the community of a rural area in Central Italy (six municipalities). The data gathered were statistically analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). The results obtained allow several factors influencing attitude to be identified as well as highlighting the difference in the responses of farmers and artisans compared with those of the rest of the community.In addition, several strategies (leverage points) have been defined for an efficient rural development of the study area in line with peoples’ perception. Such strategies would be capable of strengthening residents’ sense of place and transforming the local community into a more resilient and adaptive socio-ecological system, capable in turn of ensuring and preserving the ecosystem services provided. Specifically, all the suggested actions aim to increase cohesion among citizens and institutions, to strengthen the sense of community and to promote the creation of local networks, an essential prerequisite to the setting up of Local Action Groups, as programmed by the European Strategy for Rural Development.The novelty of the work lies in the use of SEM for the definition of leverage points, following Meadows’ classification proposed within systems theory (Meadows, 2009).This paper, by focusing on local traditional activities as a leverage point, puts forward recommendations for planners and policy makers, and opens a different perspective on today’s increased need for rural re-development and social innovation.