The Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Territorial Capital of Italian Regions

Interpretations of transformations in the world social-economic scenario attribute growing importance to changes in territorial organization. These changes are interpreted by drawing attention to two principal aspects, different yet closely interrelated.

Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, 2019

Cohesion policy, focused on the relevance of the place-based approaches, suggests defining territorialised interventions, that is to say calibrated on the actual needs of geographical contexts as well as on specificities and local resources. The result is a rediscovered centrality of the concept of territorial capital which is deepened in this contribution, as per the methodological indications provided by the PRIN. In the first instance a brief review is proposed on the concept itself, aimed at highlighting the different theoretical interpretations present in the literature and in the policy documents, on an international / national and local scale. Subsequently some possible territorial capital measurement criteria are considered in the perspective of being able to use them in an empirical research phase that imposes the concrete choice of measurable indicators. Finally, some examples of regional ex ante analysis presented on the basis of selected indicators (as pertinent to the topic and measurable) and applied to the national scale are presented.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2004

Current changes in territorial organization are interpreted by focusing on two main aspects that are different yet closely interrelated. The first aspect concerns relationships between unfolding processes of territorial redefinition and changes imposed by globalization processes and by European integration, and by the loss of centrality and of part of the power of nation-state government. The second aspect concerns the change in forms and procedures of collective action in urban and territorial policies, recognizing, in particular, the consolidation — including in practices — of forms of partnership, inter-institutional cooperation, strategic planning and governance. Within this general context, this article aims to present and discuss changes, both ongoing and recent, by (1) presenting the changes that are emerging in the framework of Italian urban and territorial policies; and (2) discussing critically, with reference to the Italian case, the relationship between change in the idea of local territories and change in urban and territorial policies. Our aim is to verify whether, within what limits and from what point of view, the innovations introduced in the Italian context may be interpreted as changes that are moving towards more place-focused forms of urban and territorial governance. On interprète les évolutions actuelles de l'organisation territoriale à travers deux aspects dominants, différents quoique étroitement liés. Le premier concerne les relations entre les processus d'explication de la redéfinition territoriale et les changements imposés par les processus de mondialisation et l'intégration européenne, et par la disparition de la centralité et d'une partie de la puissance gouvernementale de l'Énation. Le second porte sur la transformation des formes et procédures d'action collective dans les politiques publiques urbaines et territoriales, celles-ci reconnaissant notamment la fusion — y compris dans les pratiques — de formes de partenariat, coopération inter-institutions, planification stratégique et gouvernance. Dans ce contexte général, l'article cherche à exposer et étudier les évolutions actuelles et récentes, d'une part en présentant les changements qui apparaissent dans le cadre des politiques urbaines et territoriales italiennes, d'autre part en abordant de façon critique, par rapport au cas italien, le lien entre un changement d'idée sur les territoires locaux et une transformation des politiques urbaines et territoriales. Il s'agit de vérifier si les innovations introduites dans le contexte italien peuvent s'interpréter comme des changements tendant à des formes de gouvernance urbaine et territoriale plus soucieuses des lieux, et ce dans quelle mesure et de quel point de vue.

In Balducci A., Fedeli V., Curci F., Post-Metropolitan Territories: Looking for a New Urbanity, NEW York: Routledge, 2017

The processes of multi-scalar regional urbanization are occurring worldwide. These present characteristics that are clearly distinguished from those studied in the 19th and 20th century by urban studies academics and professionals through the traditional concepts of both the city and the metropolis. International literature highlights how what we have historically associated with the idea of cities has long been subjected to a consistent reconfiguration, which involves and stresses some of the typical features of the idea of 'cityness'.

The Annals of Regional Science

The analyses on the effects of the actual crisis have been mainly concentrated on a national and international dimension, leaving aside the differential effects of the crisis on regions and sub-regional areas. Notwithstanding the international character of the Great Recession, it has to be stressed that the different structural features of regions and urban areas might influence the economic and social impact of the crisis. They also might have an important effect on the resilience and recover chance. In the present paper, we focus on territorial capital, a concept that takes into account of the different features of goods and services in terms of their degree of appropriability and rivalry and, also, of their material-immaterial content. The aim is to identify the strategic territorial elements which help in the evaluation of the absorption capacity of the recession at regional and sub-regional levels. For that purpose, we use a wide dataset for Central and Southern Italian provinces in order to measure the empirical relations between the territorial capital and the change in the provincial performance. The intent is to measure how the territorial capital endowment might have determined different reactions on a sub-regional scale and, conversely, how the crisis might influence the territorial capital in different areas. If, on one hand, we expect that the "soft" dimensions of the territorial capital (relations among firms, cooperation networks, public-private partnership, territorial governance, innovation linkages, and so on) have some relevance in shaping the growth process of less developed and peripheral areas, the role of these dimensions in the reaction to crisis is still to be debated. The paper examines the relation between territorial capital and performance at NUTS-3 (provincial) level. during the period 1999-2011 and on the basis of exports and employment dynamics.

Ersa Conference Papers, 2012

The analyses on the effects of the actual crisis have been mainly concentrated on a national and international dimension, leaving aside the differential effects of the crisis on regions and sub-regional areas. Notwithstanding the international character of the Great Recession, it has to be stressed that the different structural features of regions and urban areas might influence the economic and social impact of the crisis. They also might have an important effect on the resilience and recover chance. In the present paper, we focus on territorial capital, a concept that takes into account of the different features of goods and services in terms of their degree of appropriability and rivalry and, also, of their material-immaterial content. The aim is to identify the strategic territorial elements which help in the evaluation of the absorption capacity of the recession at regional and sub-regional levels. For that purpose, we use a wide dataset for Central and Southern Italian provinces in order to measure the empirical relations between the territorial capital and the change in the provincial performance. The intent is to measure how the territorial capital endowment might have determined different reactions on a sub-regional scale and, conversely, how the crisis might influence the territorial capital in different areas. If, on one hand, we expect that the "soft" dimensions of the territorial capital (relations among firms, cooperation networks, public-private partnership, territorial governance, innovation linkages, and so on) have some relevance in shaping the growth process of less developed and peripheral areas, the role of these dimensions in the reaction to crisis is still to be debated. The paper examines the relation between territorial capital and performance at NUTS-3 (provincial) level. during the period 1999-2011 and on the basis of exports and employment dynamics.

International Planning Studies, 2019

The paper focuses on the Italian territories affected by regionalization processes and subject to an institutional reform: the enforcement of Metropolitan Cities in 2014. Regionalization processes have occurred in many European countries in recent decades, also assisted by the European Cohesion Policy. In Italy, regionalized territories have place-specific characteristics and new emerging forms of bottom-up cooperation are taking place. The new government system is having to deal with a complex scenario due to the dissemination of these forms of cooperation linked to the regionalization taking place, alongside their potential coherence and/or contrast with the top-down design of the reform.

On 1 January 2015 a new institution, the metropolitan city, took its place among the Italian territorial authorities. Despite its incorporation in the Italian Constitution since 2001, the metropolitan city become a reality only when the national government carried out a process of reform and transformation of Italian territorial government by transforming 10 large cities into metropolitan cities and depriving other intermediate governments (regions and provinces) of their fundamental competences. This article critically reviews the activation of metropolitan cities and the reshuffle of Italian territorial authorities. It stresses the way in which this reform marks the shift towards a new phase of Italian regionalism, which is dominated both by a dynamic of recentralizing intergovernmental relations and by the resulting loss for provincial and regional governments.

Advanced Engineering Forum, 2014

This text describes the results of a research conducted as part of the "Junction territories Project 2 -Abruzzo" by the Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport and the Abruzzo Region, which interprets the regional space of the Central Italy as Median Macro-region, implemented through the Territory projects. The identification of Territorial Settlement Systems, of Tourist Systems, Territorial Frameworks, Network Cities (in relational terms) is used to overcome the dualism that has always characterized the development of central Italy, its polycentrism and the imbalance of policies in favor of Metropolitan cities.

Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, 2022

This article aims to analyse the impact of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) on Italian regionalism. After summarising the characteristic features of the Italian multi-level government model, the text analyses three significant issues of the NRRP: drafting, governance, and implementation. For each of these issues, an attempt will be made to define the role played by the regions and local authorities and their relationship with the central government, to identify elements of continuity and disruption concerning the trends present in the system of territorial autonomies prior to the adoption of the Plan. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the NRRP has given the system a shift towards centralism. If the reforms and investments envisaged in the Plan are successful, however, this could herald the opening of a new season for territorial autonomies in Italy.