XXXVII Conferenza scientifica annuale AISRe

"Quali confini? Territori tra identità e integrazione internazionale”

Ancona (Italy), 20-22 September 2016

The development of Peripheral Areas: A European challenge

Session organisers: 

Maria Giulia Pezzi - Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences Unit

Giulia Urso - Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences Unit

Within the framework of the “National Reform Plan” – and against the background of the 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy – the Italian Government has launched the “National Strategy for Inner Areas”. According to the definition adopted, “Inner Areas” cover a vast part of the Italian territory hosting a population of more than 13.540 million. This territory possesses a “territorial capital” of exceptional value and diversity but which is largely unused as a consequence of the long-term demographic decline that began in the 1950s when Italy started its industrial take-off. The strategy – now in its experimental phase – adopted by Italy has the overall objective of promoting local development by activating unused territorial capital through carefully selected development projects. Improving the quality and quantity of the key welfare services (education, health, transport) in the inner areas is a central pillar of that strategy.

Discussing the Italian strategy for inner areas provides an intriguing starting point for broader reflection on European inner (or peripheral) areas and their development trajectories, which addresses some crucial issues in the regional studies debate.

In recent decades Europe’s peripheral areas have had to address the challenge of re-inventing themselves and to undertake the task of finding their place in a more globalized and interconnected world.  A number of new opportunities have been furnished by increased mobility and the greater importance acquired by information and communication technologies, which have resulted in different perceptions of how development policies are interpreted and designed.

The development strategies of peripheral areas in Europe often address social, political and cultural priorities, i.e. reversing the depopulation and marginalisation of these areas, by relying mainly on two key economic policy assets: improving essential services and triggering local development processes. These areas, in fact, have distinctive features. Firstly, they are fragile areas from a socio-demographic point of view because of population ageing. Secondly, they are unstable from an environmental (physical, eco-systemic) point of view as a consequence of insufficient maintenance of their semi-natural capital (human landscapes). Lastly, and more importantly, these are areas in which a significant part of the territorial capital is underexploited or unused. These three characteristics have a crucial social, economic and environmental importance at both a national and local level.

The session welcomes papers that focus, from a policy-oriented, trans-disciplinary perspective, on the following topics, relying on relevant case studies which can help shed light on development policies in peripheral areas:

• the urban/rural dichotomy and urban/rural interactions;
• future development trajectories of remote mountainous, rural areas;
•  theoretical and practical approaches to the concept of peripherality;
• the polycentric urban region and polycentric development policies;
• the endogenous dynamics of local systems and the effects of policies on them;
• welfare, social policies and access to essential services;
• mobility and accessibility in peripheral areas;
• culture, tourism and destination marketing in marginal territorial contexts;
• language of policy-making.

Abstracts of about 500-2500 characters should be submitted via the conference website by 8th April 2016: http://www.aisre.it/conferenza-br-annuale/proponi-un-contributo

Please, send your abstract also to the session organizers: [log in to unmask] e [log in to unmask]. 

Best regards,