Speaker
Description
This contribution raises a reflection on the planning of the so-called inner areas, in which depopulation, emigration, social and productive rarefaction, abandonment of the land, are distinctive phenomena. Shaping a new role for inner areas requires forms of community and the arising of new subjectivities that rely on forms of direct democracy (Magnaghi, 2020), reconstructing the places of living and promoting the synergic connection between local economies (Bruni, Zamagni, 2015). The authors analyze the first results of the ongoing PRIN (Research Project of Significant National Interest) project “RE-PLACE. REframing PLace-based Approach through the Cultural Ecosystem services of inner areas”. It aims to strengthen the role of local communities in building "place knowledge" and territorial heritage also through the innovative lens of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES), which represent non-material and/or socio-ecological benefits that people gain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, aesthetic experiences, and cultural and educational values (Chan et al., 2012; Andersson et al., 2015). The project investigates three Italian inner areas (Alta Marmilla and Gennargentu - Mandrolisai in Sardinia, Alto Medio Sannio in Molise, Madonie in Sicily,) and promotes a multi-scalar approach, based on co-evolutionary approaches between human settlement and the environment, and oriented to understand and maximize the resilience of marginalized territories, to build alliances and collaborative processes and to promote place-making developed by communities.
This approach implies the need to support the (re)discovery of ancient and new forms of local knowledge which allow the continuous adaptation to the mutability of environmental contexts and whose loss undermines the effectiveness of interventions implemented in more recent times. It also encourages the establishment of new relations between human societies and non-human environmental elements that allow the continuous generation of innovative local knowledge (De Bonis, Ottaviano, 2023).
The impact between the growth of "place awareness" of local communities and the identity characteristics of the heritage make possible to produce "territorial added value" (Magnaghi, Dematteis 2018) based on visions, strategies and tools and on new forms of self-government of territorial commons, namely place-specific values and resources, sedimented over time. In detail, the contribution focuses on the case study of Alto Medio Sannio inner area, made up of 33 small (of which many have less than 1,000 inhabitants) municipalities between the provinces of Isernia and Campobasso, on the border with Abruzzo region. The research path is designed to support the expression of the autonomous local development practices based on the continuous reproduction of territorial heritage. It is intended to capture the critical issues of some ongoing experiences in the area which are aimed at reducing the fragility of marginalized contexts, also identifying the ineffectiveness of the tools that until today have perpetuated the gap and the poor integration of these contexts.
Particular attention will be dedicated to a very popular and current topic in these areas: the planning of “tratturi system” (territorial system of sheep tracks), ancient transhumance routes which today are considered important elements of the territorial heritage to be valorised. These elements, from a multifunctional perspective, are considered by the authors to be latent resources for sustainable development that takes into account the benefits that ecosystems provide to the inhabitants of the area.
| Keywords | inner areas, autonomous local development, territorial heritage, tratturi |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
