National Strategy For Inner Areas Research Articles

Inner areas matter: A place-sensitive approach for the identification of the Daily Life Spaces in the Italian Abruzzo region

Despite the institutionalization of the issue of inner areas with the National Strategy for Inner Areas (Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne, SNAI), a reflection on their spatial organisation is still missing. Our paper aims at filling this gap by providing a methodology for identifying the citizens' Daily Life Spaces (DLS) in the Italian Abruzzo region, which can be used as the spatial unit of analysis of cohesion policies. Their identification results from a multi-step algorithm based on an original definition of central places and on the notions of geographical and organised proximity which consider both citizens’ isochrones and commuting flows. Our methodology is able to provide the internal spatial organisation of both Labour Market Areas and Project Areas and is consistent with a historical perspective. Finally, it questions the SNAI classification, calling for a revision of its methodology of identification.

AN INTEGRATED HBIM-GIS DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT FOR HERITAGE PRESERVATION AND ENHANCEMENT IN THE INNER ITALIAN TERRITORY

Abstract. Depopulation in Italy is causing the marginalization of several inner territories and municipalities, with consequences for the preservation of different levels of heritage. The Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) aims to address these issues, but in some cases, the policies undertaken are not effective enough to improve development. In this context, the integration of Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS), as a potential solution in the enhancement of knowledge, information, and project management, could be an important resource to lean on. To investigate this aspect, the municipality of Dosso del Liro in the Northern part of Lake Como (Lombardy) has been chosen as a case study, based on its marginality and its territorial variety. The research methodology involves a combination of field data collection, bibliographical and archival investigations, database research, and digital recording of heritage, with the purpose of modelling and analyzing the territorial context on different aspects and at different scales. Precisely, multi-disciplinarity and multi-scalarity (but also multi-temporality) are the key points for the HBIM-GIS modelling. Thus, trying to integrate and interpret in this innovative way the information acquired, the research aims to investigate the possibility of improvement for the creation of effective strategies and projects in the Inner Areas. The idea, in fact, is that with an increased knowledge and awareness of the heritage, the requirements for the design phase will be better in sight, and the quality of the intervention will be increased.

Geographical indications as an untapped opportunity for inner areas. An analysis of geographical indications from Southern Italy

Remote areas have been progressively obtained greater attention within rural development policies. Actually, a tool to foster the economic development of remote areas is valorising those high-quality agri-food products that are characterised by unique features through the use of Geographical Indications. In particular, socioeconomic characteristics and weaknesses might limit GI implementation, especially in remote areas. This work addresses this topic, by considering as a case study Southern Italian regions and their remote areas, as defined by the 2014 Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas. The work considers data on GIs at municipality (i.e., LAU2) level, adopting an empirical strategy based on the hurdle model for count data. Results suggest that geography plays a key role: actually, municipalities in the inner areas show a lower number of GIs compared to non-inner municipalities. Moreover, also social capital seems to play a role, stressing its importance when dealing with the registration of a new GI.

Addressing Peripherality in Italy: A Critical Comparison between Inner Areas and Territorial Capital-Based Evaluations

As highlighted by the UN 2030 Agenda, sustainable development is a complex and multidimensional issue that can be effectively implemented and reached at the local level. This implies the evaluation of differences and disparities between territories in order to define local priorities and support cohesion policy objectives. This need has been addressed by the Italian “National Strategy for Inner Areas”, which aims to support the growth of territories with a continuous economic and population decline. However, Inner Areas are identified by a set of indicators related to the low accessibility to Services of General Interest, neglecting other important factors that contribute to this condition. This paper proposes a critical analysis of this measurement and of the related “territorialization” of Inner Areas, by introducing a more comprehensive assessment model based on the concept of Territorial Capital (TC), which highlights a more nuanced understanding of complexities and diversities related to the potential development of a territory. In particular, the proposed model evaluates eight TC dimensions (human, social, cognitive, infrastructural, productive, relational, environmental and settlement capital), which cover a broad spectrum of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to accurately demonstrate the differences between the results of the two evaluation methods, this paper presents the results of a case study application concerning all 377 municipalities, which compose the Autonomous Region of Sardinia (Italy). The findings of this study confirm the potential of an approach based on the Territorial Capital for place-based policymaking. TC, in fact, can become relevant for defining local priorities and supporting complex decisions, allowing governments to better design and tailor interventions for the effective and efficient management of available resources. Furthermore, these results pose new questions for future research developments in the field of sustainable and equitable development.

Supporting the “sustainability” of inland (rural) areas in Basilicata. Tools and place-based strategies for implementing local development processes in the Lagonegrese-Pollino subregion

According to the Regional Rural Development Program 2014-2020, most of the territory of Basilicata is classified as “Rural Areas with Development Problems (D)”. As such, it suffers from severe processes of marginalization due to depopulation, population aging and the cessation of activities related to micro companies. These phenomena weaken local socio-economic systems and constitute a risk factor for maintaining the environmental balance. In addition, the economic instability resulting from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact, especially on the agricultural enterprises that offer diversified activities and services to meet tourism demand (with non-hotel accommodation and catering services), mainly associated with non-traditional tourism. The point of view from which this situation can be observed and analyzed is the Lagonegrese-Pollino subregion. Despite numerous factors due to the obvious marginality and weakness of the territory, there are factors in this area that allow for change in terms of sustainable planning of the territory, in which not only the institutional actors but also the local population play a central role.These are the conditions to investigate the central policies and ad hoc programming tools, especially regarding sustainable and quality tourism development. Starting from the National Strategy for Inner Areas to the Local Development Strategy, through the analysis of a project for the conversion and reuse of a railway infrastructure transformed into a greenway (the disused Lagonegro-Spezzano Albanese), the work aims to evaluate which instruments can activate sustainable fruition paths in the analyzed subregion and, in particular, whether participation and social activation represent an added value for the creation of territorial renewal processes.

An Axiology of Weak Areas: The Estimation of an Index of Abandonment for the Definition of a Cognitive Tool to Support the Enhancement of Inland Areas in Sicily

The marginalization of areas due to a progressive increase in social, material, economic, and infrastructural vulnerability is a phenomenon that afflicts many countries today, and it is growing rapidly. Agenda 2030, in highlighting the need to identify measures to counter this phenomenon, has promoted the development of a growing awareness of addressing this issue that cannot be postponed. With this in mind, in Italy, a map of inland areas was produced by the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development (ICEPSD), a publication aimed at measuring the extent of the phenomenon and support the development of specific strategies that collectively define the National Strategy for Inland Areas (NSIA). In this study, starting from a critical analysis of the classification of areas in the National Strategy for Inner Areas, we propose a new cognitive tool of the phenomenon of abandonment developed from the perspective of an axiological approach of marginal areas. This tool is based on the mapping of an abandonment index Ia on QGIS with reference to the clusters of municipalities identified based on the quartiles of its values. This index was estimated as an aggregate weighted sum of the components identified because of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) used to analyze the indicators of different forms of territorial capital of weak areas.

Tourism as an opportunity to effectively counteract marginalisation. The case of the Italian national strategy for inner areas

Remote rural areas are often rich in natural and landscape assets, which are in turn used as the main focus of tourism development strategies aiming at reverting their decline. However, mono-functional strategies hardly manage to achieve this goal, as in order to restore those structural conditions that are essential to liveability and local development it is necessary to engage in a more comprehensive approach. Acknowledging this challenge, the paper reflects on the possibility to include tourism within multi-level development strategies aimed at tackling marginalisation, drawing on the case of the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas. More in detail, the authors analyse how the latter enables the integration of tourism-related actions into more comprehensive, place-based development strategies that act upon the peculiarities of the territories they focus on through a mix of top-down and bottom-up logics.

The THEMA tool to support heritage-based development strategies for marginal areas

The ongoing forced reflection on the leading urbanization models' crisis has led to greater attention to marginal areas. In Italy, the scientific and media debate has focused on inner areas that, since 2014, have represented the target of an innovative national cohesion policy aimed at tackling their shrinking dynamics: the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI). Indeed, Italian inner areas are endowed with extraordinary natural capital and settlement models far from urban density. Thus, they seem to respond perfectly to the new raised living needs. However, leaving aside the optimistic rhetoric, strong political and administrative choices are necessary to trigger a `return process' based on this broader attention toward inner areas, thus countering humankind's natural tendency to concentrate on urban realities. In this light, the paper proposes a tool to support SNAI in designing and implementing heritage-based local development strategies to address inner areas' real needs. After a critical reading of the new challenges for planning posed by the pandemic and SNAI's role within them, the contribution moves to frame the THEMA (Tool for Heritage-based Enhancement of Marginal Areas) tool, focusing on specificities of the inner areas as cultural heritage. Finally, the tool's application to a case study, an inner area in Campania Region, allows to outline and discuss its possible benefits for SNAI implementation and its limits.

Water Resources and Health Tourism in Val di Sole: Key Elements for Innovating with Nature in the Italian Inner Territories

The contexts addressed by the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) often lack successful regional policies and systemic territorial approaches to achieve effective transformations towards resilient territories. These issues are addressed by the ongoing project “B4R Branding4Resilience.” This contribution aims to present and discuss its first results in the focus area of Val di Sole, Trentino-Alto Adige Region (Italy). The main goal of the University of Trento unit is to pursue leadership in innovating with nature in small thermal villages. The aim is to create a territorial strategy based on the value of the water resources and thermal systems by promoting the enhancement of their natural capital. An interdisciplinary and multi-scalar methodology has been adopted to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches; a data collection process was used to explore the natural identity of Val di Sole to comprehend the ecological and spatial elements; a co-design activity was conducted with the local community’s engagement to propose a resilient territorial strategic vision. As a result, the “Val di Sole Blueprint” represents a strategic tool to implement thermal landscapes as ecological design resources for the territory and to support sustainable territorial development for a better quality of life.

Recovery and Resilience of the Inner Areas: Identifying Collective Policy Actions through PROMETHEE II

Inner areas are rural areas with low population density, distant from the main hotspots offering essential welfare services and endowed with significant environmental assets and cultural heritage. In Italy, their development is at the core of the national strategy for inner areas. Specific documents and program agreements were issued for each inner area and summarized the intervention themes and projects to implement. However, when the inner areas are considered within a regional territorial ‘matrix’, further collective policy actions have to be identified, through comparison and in-depth analysis of their features and influence on development. Therefore, this research aims to identify and analyse the development needs and potentialities of the inner areas, for strengthening the national strategy and improving their recovery and resilience through collective policy actions. The Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) method PROMETHEE II was applied as research methodology to four inner areas in Puglia region (southern Italy), using 43 indicators organized into seven thematic dimensions and setting specific parameters. The results enabled to delineate the overall development score of the four inner areas, and the profile of each inner area based on every indicator and dimension. By analysing this profile, key thematic dimensions where to direct collective policy actions were identified, related mainly to contrast with the depopulation by improving specific essential services (e.g., digitalization, health, education) and to foster the development of agriculture, tourism, and cultural heritage. This research can be considered a first step for future broader studies, to guide the process of policy making for the recovery and resilience of European and Italian inner areas with a multi-perspective approach.

Distant but Vibrant Places. Local Determinants of Adaptability to Peripherality

ABSTRACTAgainst the discourse according to which peripheral areas are places doomed to an inevitable fate of constant demographic decline, the aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the local determinants fostering adaptability to prolonged challenges connected to a condition of peripherality. Exploiting the classification produced within the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas, we investigate the determinants of positive demographic long‐term growth paths of Italian peripheral municipalities using population variation as the dependent variable in a spatially deep lagged model relying on census data from 1971 to 2011. Our longitudinal study provides evidence on the positive effects of demographic and labour‐skills related factors on population dynamics, that may prove to be crucial in supporting policymakers when formulating place‐sensitive strategies to enhance the adaptive capability of places in the face of long‐term slow‐burning pressures.

Can GIS Foster Conscious and Critical Learning in Geography? An Application from Students to a Real Case Included in the National Strategy for Inner Areas: Monti Dauni, Apulia (Italy)

Digital technologies, the use of which has progressively increased over the last few years, could represent key tools in learning and active citizenship in development processes. In this sense, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have gradually become an integral part of various disciplines and sectors. Even if the relevance and diffusion of GIS in the educational and pedagogical fields are increasing, their potential is still under-explored in the development of empowerment for participatory planning. Regarding the combination of geographical education and information technologies applied to the territories, the contribution they offer to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is a question which remains little-investigated, and which represents both an innovative field of experimentation and significant opportunities, especially for marginal, inner areas. However, recent reforms, in particular in Italy, are considerably reducing the role of geography in the curricula, which is paradoxical for such complex contexts and the understanding of major global issues. The risk is that of producing a gap between the functional use of the tools and the capacity for their critical application. This paper aims to reflect on the integration of Geography and GIS through teaching experimentation, as applied to a real case study in the Apulia region (Monti Dauni Area) under the national strategy for inner areas, in order to understand how to use GIS as an active tool in education for sustainability, the awareness of the value of local resources, and active citizenship.

The Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI): A Critical Analysis of the Indicator Grid

The National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) is a public policy designed to tackle depopulation in inner areas, defined according to the distance from centers offering essential services. Such a policy’s success is crucial to address the new challenges for planning brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, there is a need to adequately support its implementation by providing handy decision support tools, understanding the power balances among municipalities, and defining proper interventions. The Indicator Grid, already used by the SNAI for project areas selection, can answer this need. However, the Grid’s application to support public policy at the municipality level requires reviewing some of its features, such as the indicators’ large number and the impossibility of defining some of them at the municipal scale. Based on these premises, this paper aims at supporting inner areas policies by carrying out a critical analysis of the current SNAI Grid, aimed at improving its effectiveness. It relies on a hybrid methodology that merges qualitative data interpretations and statistical analyses. Thanks to this method, defining a parsimonious Grid by leaving its complexity and information level untouched is possible. The so-defined set of indicators can represent a valuable reference tool in pinpointing priorities for actions or selecting further territorial scopes from the SNAI perspective, even if it still brings some criticalities to be faced.

Resilient Rural Areas and Tourism Development Paths: A Comparison of Case Studies

In the settlement network of Italian small towns (the so-called “borghi”, with a population ceiling lower than 5000 inhabitants), not lacking in discontinuities and patches, a “common thread” is increasingly noticeable, which allows to look optimistically beyond several weaknesses (economy depending on a relatively unprofitable or declining agriculture, social and economic stasis, demographic decline and consequent contraction of public and private services, hydrogeological instability, etc.): we are talking of the firm, pigheaded determination of an increasing number of local communities to become sustainable and responsible realities, get involved, and undertake a process of “hot authentication” of their milieu. Since 2013, such resilient attitude is at the heart of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI, Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne) aimed at promoting coordinated, multi-scalar projects of self-enhancement; in April 2019, the above innovative form of territorial planning was selected by the European Parliament as a model for the 2021–2027 programming period of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).This paper reviews the original and creative bottom-up enhancement process being implemented in several towns of the “Monti Dauni” sub-region, a pilot marginal area identified by Apulian regional authorities within the SNAI. In these small towns, local players aim at maximizing the opportunities of sustainable, experiential tourism by offering an uncontaminated environment, ancient knowledge, genuine flavours and deep emotions to all visitors who wish to achieve a deeper knowledge of the territorial identity instead of being mere spectators, by adopting an active and engaged attitude.

Accessibility and mobility in peripheral areas: a national place-based policy

ABSTRACT Rural and peripheral areas, however, defined, suffer from accessibility and mobility problems that challenge their liveability and potential for development. To cope with these challenges, it is necessary to acknowledge and address the spatial, societal, cultural and economic components of accessibility, with comprehensive action involving actors from various sectors at different scales. The Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas, aimed to reverse marginalization processes of rural peripheral areas with a place-based approach, is moving in this direction. This article analyses and discusses how the strategy aims to address accessibility and mobility, in principle and in practice. To this aim, document analysis of the general documents and guidelines of the SNAI and 50 local strategies is combined with qualitative insights from interviews and participant observation. The analysis shows the scope and approach of the strategy and points out a number of criticalities and pitfalls challenging its potential. The results can contribute to inform research, policymaking and planning to improve accessibility in European peripheral areas, taking stock of the potentialities and limitations of this experience.

Towards Geopolitical Reading of ‘Periphery’ in State Spatial Strategies: Concepts and Controversies

ABSTRACT This article aims to tackle the inner-regional question within political geography debate addressing an important conceptual and empirical deficit in our understanding of periphery as political construct. It analyses the role of state spatial-making in the process of constructing the narrative of peripherality of subnational territories, in national-territorial politics. It examines the concept of ‘inner region’ as it is employed in state spatial strategy focusing on territories that are ‘locked’ into a configuration outside the core, that is, territories that are peripheral and remote. In particular, study’s concern is with the geopolitical rationality that implicitly guides policy framework in the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) and the new Metropolitan Cities in Italy. If inner regions and city-regions become a particular expression of state space-making, their development offers considerable opportunity for shedding more light on the relationship between local dynamics and wider geopolitical relations. Against the only apparently neutralizing discourses of citizenship, polycentrism, and economic development which dominate that policy, the new strategy is a highly geopolitical instrument potentially accelerating the neoliberalization of peripheral regions.

Metropolisation and the challenge of rural-urban dichotomies

ABSTRACT The challenge of governing metropolitan regions calls urban-rural relationships into question. Rural actors’ silence within it and the blurring of boundaries between urban and rural are still much debated issues. This paper explores the rural perspective on metropolisation processes, considering local actors’ perceptions towards incorporation into a larger urban entity, urban-rural cooperation and the barriers hindering it. Our case investigates a peripheral area within the Italian “National Strategy for Inner Areas” that simultaneously falls into a metropolitan region (Genoa). Adopting a mixed-methods approach, and a rural perspective, we scrutinize i) the material and imagined coherence of the strategic planning (inner) area, and ii) their role in the metropolitan locality-making. Despite a presumed collapse of the urban-rural dichotomy or the two categories, yet the rural exhibits a distinctive identity. However, its agency, even when it is given more voice within metropolitan governance, might be disempowered by colliding policies and internal fragmentations.

The Spatial Dimension of Income Inequality: An Analysis at Municipal Level

This paper focuses on the analysis on income inequality in Italy at the municipal level of the areas defined by the National Strategy for Inner Areas. We discuss an analysis of the economic and spatial dynamics of the phenomenon through the construction of the Gini’s coefficient and the estimation of the regression model for the evaluation of the determinants of inequality. We highlight the influence of the spatial dimension on income inequality in Italy. Inequality appears to be greater in densely populated urban centers with a strong incidence of tertiary activities and young population. Conversely, in the inner areas, the distribution of income is more balanced due probably to the weakness of the social and economic structure that determines low levels of income and job opportunities mainly in the agricultural sector.

Rural Identity, Authenticity, and Sustainability in Italian Inner Areas

This paper focuses on the sustainable development conditions in Italian Inner Areas. Italy’s Inner Areas are rural depopulated areas characterized by their distance from the main service centers of education, health, and mobility, according to the classification proposed by the National Strategy for Inner Areas in 2012. The inner and marginal areas are recently getting the interest of the market place and agricultural economics, as well as the attention of the regional and cohesion policies of national governments and the European Union. These places provide an intriguing perspective for a broader reflection on European peripheral areas and their development trajectories. The aim of this contribution is to interpret the determinants of the relationships between rural identity and perceptive components of authenticity, in order to understand the mechanisms by which they are positively reflected in socio-economic and environmental use, influencing in turn, the level of sustainability of territorial development. We found a specific role of the rural identity in the catalyzed phenomena of interaction between citizens/community and visitors/stakeholders, through the authenticity effect, identifying them as the basis of the spontaneous, bottom-up emersion of a symbolic platform, which characterizes the identification of a place brand and of the creation of the perception/destination of the inner territories’ characteristics. Finally, the paper discusses an Italian Inner Areas project promoted by the common engagement of local institutions and social and economic actors.

Coesione territoriale e coesione interna nelle Aree Interne: questioni di governance d'area

The 2007 Lisbon Treaty stimulated new discourses related with the concept of territorial cohesion. The importance of adopting a place-based approach to such policies emerged, putting people living in places at the center of the discourse. As a consequence, not only multi-level governance, but also the complex internal organizational structures of communities (local governance) do matter. In the framework of the Italian cohesion policy, specifically within the National Strategy for Inner Areas, this article discusses the governance structures of an experimental area, the Simeto Valley in Sicily, arguing the importance of adopting specific organizational structures and processes of local learning for successful outcomes of place-based cohesion policies.