On the centrality of space and territory in the project of regeneration of mountains and internal areas
Abstract
The crisis brought on by Covid-19 has dramatically highlighted how the territorial dimension has long been excluded from national policies to be reduced to a mere diagrammatic and abstract space to be reduced in a mere diagrammatic and abstract space. An unphysicality of things that also goes through philosophies of smart or replicable best practices, in the idea that it is enough to follow a procedure to solve the complexities of contemporary life.
The crisis has also brought to light the theme of internal, mountain and marginal areas, which have already received strong and growing attention in recent years.
All the researches of the last few years demonstrate how the frontier of innovation is placed along the margin lines, in territories such as the Alpine and Apennine ones: regeneration projects based on culture, community cooperatives, resettlement that arises on the recovery of legacy and on the new technologies. These are experiments as fragile as the places they insist on, but where the territorial and spatial dimension plays an active and new role, which should be carefully observed thanks to the new openings it can offer.
The essay identifies some nodes that arise from a long process of analysis and field experiences, and which intertwine two strategic issues: on the one hand, the need for policies capable of actively addressing the issue of territories – overcoming the contrast between socio-economic and spatial disciplines –, and on the other hand the project of reactivation and regeneration of mountain and marginal spaces.
