A methodological path to foster inner peripheries’ sustainable and resilient futures: a research experience from Southern Italy

The future of inner peripheries, suffering a demographic decline (ESPON, 2017) that threatens the survival of their relevant environmental and cultural heritage, represents an important challenge for the whole of Europe. The urgency to address some long-lasting problems affecting inner peripheries (depopulation, population ageing, limited accessibility, economic marginality) has been recognized and partially addressed through European and national strategies. However, some crucial issues must be still addressed: reversing the rhetoric of inner peripheries as marginal areas, by focusing on their potential; strengthening communities’ engagement in shaping their own future; better addressing the complex urban-rural relationships. The RI.P.R.O.VA.RE. Project1 developed a three-step methodological path to trigger development processes based on a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach and the engagement of local communities in co-designing visions and strategies for a resilient and sustainable development. The proposed methodological path, tested on some areas in South Italy, can be easily replicated in other European contexts that, according to the EU cohesion policy 2021–2027, aim at reducing territorial and socio-economic imbalances to foster sustainable development.