Improving resilience at the local level: The location of essential services within inner areas. Three case studies in the Italian Marche region

Abstract

This paper aims at supporting public policies in the location choice of essential services in inner areas. Their provision, which, at present, is completely absent or extremely limited, is reputed to foster the local resilience of settings which have been following a prolonged process of socioeconomic marginalization, leading to the creation of an "inner border region". We contribute to this debate by suggesting the importance of the provision of these services at an appropriate territorial level. By investigating three case studies in the inner areas of the Marche region, we show how and why the location choice of public utilities must concern integrated inter-municipal systems and, equally important, all their sub-municipal settlements. Based on a space-equity approach, we propose a multistep algorithm aimed at achieving a relatively equal access to basic services, combining the need for concentrating their provision in one single municipality and that of their accessibility by local communities. From a public policy perspective, these considerations stress the crucial role an integrated and multilevel governance should have when planning interventions at a local scale, especially within inner areas.

Distant but Vibrant Places. Local Determinants of Adaptability to Peripherality

“…and comparatively less on demographic features, which are rather used as explanatory variables (Ifejika Speranza et al 2014;Whitney et al 2017;Capdevila et al 2020). Our work, building on the latter stream of studies, hence concentrating on population dynamics in reaction to some kind of pressure (Belcher & Bates 1983;Chamlee-Wright 2010;Aldrich 2012;Xiao & Van Zandt 2012;Compagnucci & Morettini 2020;Fantechi et al 2020), uses population growth as a proxy for the adaptive capacity of peripheral territories. Consistent with previous literature (Dubé & Polèse 2016) according to which population variation may not be suitable to evaluate reactions from sudden shocks as population inertia may hinder its explanatory power, we argue that it may instead be extremely revealing when considering prolonged disturbances to a system equilibrium.…”

“…2020). Our work, building on the latter stream of studies, hence concentrating on population dynamics in reaction to some kind of pressure (Belcher & Bates 1983; Chamlee‐Wright 2010; Aldrich 2012; Xiao & Van Zandt 2012; Compagnucci & Morettini 2020; Fantechi et al . 2020), uses population growth as a proxy for the adaptive capacity of peripheral territories.…”

“Wanna Be Provoked”: Inner Peripheries Generators of Social Innovation in the Italian Apennine

“…The Apennine region is a long mountain range extending along the length of the Italian peninsula. Despite it being a differentiated and multifaceted context, the Apennine region is commonly interpreted as the country's territory that is most affected by social, economic, and demographic decline, which has been accentuated by some recent catastrophic events, such as the 2009 and 2016-2017 earthquakes which hit the area of L'Aquila and the inner territories of Central Italy, respectively [48,49].…”

Economic Resilience in a Pandemic: Did COVID‐19 Policy Effects Override Industry Diversity Impacts in Australia?

“…In the vein of this declaration, we use JobKeeper data because our focus is centred on the COVID-19 pandemic. This emphasis is different from typical resilience studies, which commonly employ ecological, engineering or evolutionary resilience measures; see, for example, Compagnucci and Morettini (2020), Grabner and Modica (2021), Martin et al (2016) and Xiao et al (2018). We believe JobKeeper applications to be a good fit for our study as it was a fundamental feature of Australia's COVID-19 policy response and provides reliable insights into communities and businesses that experienced a significant exposure to the different policy restrictions imposed nationally and locally.…”

“…In the vein of this declaration, we use JobKeeper data because our focus is centred on the COVID‐19 pandemic. This emphasis is different from typical resilience studies, which commonly employ ecological, engineering or evolutionary resilience measures; see, for example, Compagnucci and Morettini (2020), Grabner and Modica (2021), Martin et al . (2016) and Xiao et al .…”