IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i15p6896-d1712708.html

Inter-Municipal Planning as a Framework for Managing Policies for Inner Areas: Insights from the Italian Context

Author

Listed:
  • Alessio Floris

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09124 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Sergio Serra

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09124 Cagliari, Italy)

Abstract

The socio-economic geography of the Italian territory is framed by strong imbalances in the settlement development, with consequent inequalities in terms of accessibility to essential services. These challenges are most critical in the ‘inner areas’, which are remote from metropolitan and urban centers and affected by chronic demographic decline and depopulation. Both European and national policies have relied primarily on financial interventions, often implemented with limited integration into comprehensive urban and territorial planning frameworks. Using a case study methodology, this research examines the area-based strategies of the 72 pilot areas designated under the 2014–2020 program-ming cycle of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI). The main research question guiding this study is as follows: how does economic planning intersect with territorial governance in Italy’s inner areas, and what is the specific role of local autonomies and the management of core functions, particularly in relation to urban and regional planning? Through this lens, this study proposes a conceptual reframing of the inter-municipal ad-ministrative scale as a strategic framework for promoting more effective territorial policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessio Floris & Sergio Serra, 2025. "Inter-Municipal Planning as a Framework for Managing Policies for Inner Areas: Insights from the Italian Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-25, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6896-:d:1712708
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6896/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6896/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernardino Romano & Francesco Zullo & Alessandro Marucci & Lorena Fiorini, 2018. "Vintage Urban Planning in Italy: Land Management with the Tools of the Mid-Twentieth Century," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Aurelio Bruzzo, 2009. "La programmazione regionale in Italia: una rassegna della letteratura economica," ARGOMENTI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2009(27), pages 31-62.
    3. Lisa Rayle & Christopher Zegras, 2013. "The Emergence of Inter-Municipal Collaboration: Evidence from Metropolitan Planning in Portugal," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 867-889, June.
    4. Agim Kercuku & Francesco Curci & Arturo Lanzani & Federico Zanfi, 2023. "Italia di mezzo: The emerging marginality of intermediate territories between metropolises and inner areas," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 10, pages 89-112.
    5. De Toni, Andrea & Vizzarri, Matteo & Di Febbraro, Mirko & Lasserre, Bruno & Noguera, Joan & Di Martino, Paolo, 2021. "Aligning Inner Peripheries with rural development in Italy: Territorial evidence to support policy contextualization," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    6. Gordon Macleod & Martin Jones, 2007. "Territorial, Scalar, Networked, Connected: In What Sense a 'Regional World'?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(9), pages 1177-1191.
    7. Michael Keating, 1998. "The New Regionalism in Western Europe," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1193.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dejan Stjepanović, 2015. "Territoriality and Citizenship: Membership and Sub-State Polities in Post-Yugoslav Space," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 67(7), pages 1030-1055, August.
    2. Michael Longo, 2003. "European Integration: Between Micro‐Regionalism and Globalism," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(3), pages 475-494, June.
    3. Andreas Öjehag-Pettersson, 2024. "Making space for competition: The rationalities of contemporary regional development," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 42(2), pages 198-214, March.
    4. John Lovering, 2001. "The Coming Regional Crisis (And How To Avoid It)," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(4), pages 349-354.
    5. Ivan Blečić & Arnaldo Cecchini & Emanuel Muroni & Valeria Saiu & Serafino Scanu & Giuseppe Andrea Trunfio, 2023. "Addressing Peripherality in Italy: A Critical Comparison between Inner Areas and Territorial Capital-Based Evaluations," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, January.
    6. Antonio Ledda & Marta Kubacka & Giovanna Calia & Sylwia Bródka & Vittorio Serra & Andrea De Montis, 2023. "Italy vs. Poland: A Comparative Analysis of Regional Planning System Attitudes toward Adaptation to Climate Changes and Green Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    7. Melika Levelt & Leonie Janssen-Jansen, 2013. "The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area Challenge: Opportunities for Inclusive Coproduction in City-Region Governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(3), pages 540-555, June.
    8. Bernardino Romano & Lorena Fiorini & Alessandro Marucci & Francesco Zullo, 2020. "The Urbanization Run-Up in Italy: From a Qualitative Goal in the Boom Decades to the Present and Future Unsustainability," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-16, August.
    9. Marc Herz & Adamantios Diamantopoulos & Petra Riefler, 2023. "Consumers' use of ambiguous product cues: The case of “regionality” claims," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 1395-1422, July.
    10. Di Pirro, E. & Sallustio, L. & Capotorti, G. & Marchetti, M. & Lasserre, B., 2021. "A scenario-based approach to tackle trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and land use pressure in Central Italy," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 448(C).
    11. lain Deas & Alex Lord, 2006. "From a New Regionalism to an Unusual Regionalism? The Emergence of Non-standard Regional Spaces and Lessons for the Territorial Reorganisation of the State," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(10), pages 1847-1877, September.
    12. Tassilo Herrschel, 2013. "Competitiveness AND Sustainability: Can ‘Smart City Regionalism’ Square the Circle?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(11), pages 2332-2348, August.
    13. Michael Keating, 2010. "Second Round Reform. Devolution and constitutional reform in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 15, European Institute, LSE.
    14. Di Novi, C. & Piacenza, M. & Robone, S. & Turati, G., 2015. "How does fiscal decentralization affect within-regional disparities in well-being? Evidence from health inequalities in Italy," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 15/23, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    15. Salvatore Ammirato & Alberto Michele Felicetti & Cinzia Raso & Bruno Antonio Pansera & Antonio Violi, 2020. "Agritourism and Sustainability: What We Can Learn from a Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    16. A. J. Brown & Jacob Deem, 2016. "A Tale of Two Regionalisms: Improving the Measurement of Regionalism in Australia and Beyond," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 1154-1169, July.
    17. Roger Keil, 2011. "The Global City Comes Home," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(12), pages 2495-2517, September.
    18. Gordon Macleod & Martin Jones, 2007. "Territorial, Scalar, Networked, Connected: In What Sense a 'Regional World'?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(9), pages 1177-1191.
    19. Liesbet Hooghe, Gary Marks, 2002. "Types of Multi-Level Governance," Les Cahiers européens de Sciences Po 3, Centre d'études européennes (CEE) at Sciences Po, Paris.
    20. Xiaobo Su, 2014. "Multi-Scalar Regionalization, Network Connections and the Development of Yunnan Province, China," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 91-104, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6896-:d:1712708. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.