Risultati per "Cities"

Listening to the nights of Fez a fragmentary narrative. – In how many ways can one listen to a city – or rather the city – that excludes the noise of traffic while preserving the ancestral channelling and sonic configurations of its alleys and of materials belonging to a time discreet yet not immobile? The soundscape of the medina of Fez emerges not only as a visual space, but as a stratified acoustic landscape, oscillating between public, discreet, and sheltered spaces on the one hand, and private, reverberant, and communal ones on the other. The calls to prayer from the minarets, the flight of storks, and both human and non-human voices contribute to the construction of a sonic geography that defines urban spatiality. Architecture itself functions as an acoustic device that amplifies, attenuates, or trans-forms sounds, making Fez one of the most significant “cities of sound” in the world. Nighttime, in particular, discloses the sonic intimacy of the me-dina, transforming it into a natural conservatory of phonetic effects—an intangible heritage belonging not only to history, but also to the daily practices and sensory perceptions of its inhabitants
Climate change as an opportunity for a new “habitability” of the mountains: the Orobic massif system. – Rising temperatures in many cities are altering their habitability, leading to the return of urban populations to the countryside and generating new opportunities for mountain areas. To trigger a new habitability of these areas, it is necessary to have a more correct geo-historical and territorial reading of them. Geo-historical and territorial interpretation based on the systemic culture of massive and the reticularity between different valleys. The Orobic Massif is an exemplary case of such dynamics and leads to the development of a change of perspective, bringing to light the material and intangible heritage still widely diffused and contrasting its valley disarticulation. To guarantee the habitability of the mountain it is also necessary to activate co-designing actions that transform the inhabit-ants into stakeholders in the role of planners and evaluators. The contri-bution presents the first results emerging from the research conducted by the authors within the framework of the PRIN 2022: “Governance for mountain reticularity: co-design and activation of a “contratto d’abitare” for the territorial regeneration of the Seriana Valley”.
Rethinking the urban role of nature in climate change. The project for an urban green wall. – The paper discusses the Green Urban Oases project that aims to reconverse more than 500,000ha of land into new urban forests and restor about 300,000ha of forests in the Sahel and Central Asia. The project is part of a broader reflection that sees cities at the centre of the debate on climate change and aims to rethink the relationship between society and nature. Since, on the one hand, nature is increasingly becoming a protagonist in the process of urban adaptation, on the other hand it seems continuing to be conceptualised only in terms of human needs.
The aim of this contribution, part of a broader work, is to reflect on the role that nature-based solutions, implemented in particular through the above-mentioned project, have in cities and if they represent ways for the ‘nature’ to go beyond the marginal, passive and anthropocentric interpre-tation it has had until now in climate change depate.
From the European Capital to the Italian Capital of Culture. Reflections on the sidelines of Procida 2022 on events, narratives, images. – The contribution focuses on the “Capital of Culture” cross-referencing the characteristics, in terms of discourses and governance, assumed by the event – in its different declination at the European and Italian scale – with the new instances developed for tourist attraction and city branding’s goals. The two events will be explored with reference to the designated Italian cities, from the evolution of European Capital of Culture (ECoC) program to the invention of the Italian Capital of Culture (ICoC) initiative. The focus on the impact of ICoC, on the sidelines of Procida 2022, will allow us to reflect on the dynamics and contradictions produced by the cultural event on a tourist location already known for literary and cinematographic representations, in order to grasp the interrelations between the event and the new narratives and images conveyed.
Water resources as an engine of local development: the case of the “water villages” of Rasiglia and Borghetto. – There are several cities have made water their hall-mark of tourist attractiveness and socio-economic development. In Italy, this category includes all the large coastal cities (such as Venice, Naples, Cagliari or Palermo) or those crossed by large rivers (Bologna, Florence, Rome), the centers that have sprung up on the edges of large lakes (Riva del Garda, Bolsena, Bracciano, etc. ) or those known because they are linked to the presence of hot springs (Saturnia, Montecatini, Fiuggi Acqui, etc.), but also the localities that bear precisely the title of “water village” and thus make it a distinctive and characteristic element. It is precisely these small and charming villages, hamlets of municipalities in inland areas, scattered in the various regions of Italy that over time have been able to enhance water both as a landscape element but also as an element of production and economic development, that are the subject of this contribution. Among these, the cases of Rasiglia and Borghetto will be analyzed to describe the role that technology in the past has played in building the relationship of these localities with water, the role it has today and could have in the next future to contribute to their path toward building a circular economy and thus sustainable development.
Urban green spaces as proximity tourism destinations: the potential of the Maredolce - La Favara complex between care practices and heritage enhancement. – Proximity tourism allows residents to experience familiar places in new ways and to perceive otherness in an elsewhere that does not imply distance. In urban settings, green spaces offer an evocative appeal that can be emphasized when combined with interest in the presence of heritage emergencies. Therefore, it is possible to reflect on the potential of green areas in urban settings and the implications for tourism and sustainability challenges. Green spaces in cities generate crucial connections that strengthen communities while contributing to local development. This article aims to analyze the role of heritage communities in the care and enhancement of urban green spaces as destinations with the aim of promoting critical tools useful for more equitable and sustainable planning of green space enhancement strategies for tourism. This research explores the case of the Maredolce - La Favara complex (Palermo) with a qualitative methodology that included participant observation and field survey. The green space is subject to processes of care put in place for decades by a group of inhabitants who work for the enhancement and involvement of the area in the representation and governance policies of the city. The processes and dynamics related to the context under study are analyzed to highlight how heritage walks, as effective practices of proximity tourism, can contribute to sustainable urban development that enhances local in-stances of signification and affective belonging to places.
La ristrutturazione del qanatscape come infrastruttura verde-blu-culturale delle città storiche nella regione arida dell’Iran. – Un’infrastruttura rispettosa dell’ambiente ha creato la civiltà delle terre aride dell’Iran circa 3000 anni fa, il sistema idrico Qanat, una struttura creata dall’uomo che consiste in tunnel sotterranei che partono da falde acquifere alluvionali alla testa delle valli e che conducono l’acqua su lunghe distanze usando la gravità per irrigare le terre aride e piatte. Una visione olistica di un paesaggio basato sui qanat crea il termine “Qanatscape” per concettualizzare le caratteristiche paesag-gistiche uniche dei qanat, dalla scala del sito alla scala intermedia, il tutto nel contesto della scala regionale. Rivitalizzare il modello del Qanatscape significa scavare nell’ordine, nella gerarchia, nell’uso del suolo e nel ciclo ottimale dell’acqua e trovare un modo per migliorare lo sviluppo sostenibile e la qualità del paesaggio quotidiano.
Yazd è un caso di studio degno di nota in quanto si è evoluto dal modello del Qanatscape. Il paesaggio di Yazd è stato esaminato attraverso narrazioni orali e analisi/interpretazione di immagini di vecchie mappe, foto aeree e immagini satellitari periodiche per scoprire il modello. Infine, attraverso una ricostruzione critica, il Qanatscape viene proposto come infrastruttura “verde-blu-culturale” di città e villaggi storici aridi dell’Iran. Il modello può servire come modello per un uso più sostenibile dell’acqua in Iran, producendo cibo, qualità della vita e un senso di appartenenza e identità, soprattutto di fronte al cambiamento climatico.
Redefining the city-river relationship: a look at the Turin area. – The relationship between the city and the river is being profoundly redefined in the context of the water crisis, in the relationship between the natural and the built environment. The paper will focus on the case of Turin, where deindustrialisation has led to morphological, functional and symbolic transformations of previously industrialized areas, with a new process of landscape construction, in some cases based on the heritage of the industrial past, in others on a new meaning (re)attributed to the environment, as the main physical and symbolic dimension of the re-territorialisation of post-indus-trial spaces. This paper focuses on the relationship between rivers and cities, and in particular on how rivers are once again becoming a (potentially) founding element of post-industrial landscapes. We will draw on some case studies in the Turin area, where the river emerges as a potentially structuring element in rethinking places deeply marked by deindustrialisation and in imagining and constructing a new landscape.
Eventi e festival nella promozione delle città secondarie da una prospettiva cognitivo-culturale: le grandi cinque città secondarie di eventi. – Nell’attuale contesto della New Economy e del Capitalismo Culturale Cognitivo, le città non competono esclusivamente per l’attrazione di flussi economici, ma sono piuttosto necessarie particolari forme di capitale culturale strettamente legate al turismo e al tempo libero, che ne enfatizzino prestigio, reputazione e identità. Si ritiene che eventi e festival culturali siano diventati indicatori statistici rappresentativi per valutare il sistema urbano globale da una prospettiva cognitivo-culturale. Seguendo una metodologia quantitativa implementata nella ricerca precedente, anche se ora ampliata e perfezionata, i risultati corroborano alcuni fatti significativi: i) la necessità di studiare il sistema urbano globale da una prospettiva multidimensionale, al di là dei criteri economici; ii) la necessità di concentrarsi non solo sulle principale città globali ma anche su quelle secondarie con particolare attenzione alle cosiddette “Big Five Secondary-Eventful Cities” che, grazie a questi eventi, sono culturalmente radicate nel panorama globale palcoscenico; iii) si conferma l’efficacia degli eventi sportivi e culturali in termini di posizionamento per le città ospitanti in una prospettiva cognitivo-culturale.
Feeding the city through events: Expo 2015 seen from Turin. – Among the various Italian cities that have employed events as a means of continuous relaunch and repositioning on the national and international stage, Milan and Turin have hosted the most significant mega-events in the last 20 years, as Expo 2015 in Milan and the 2006 Winter Olympics Games (WOG) in Turin and the forthcoming Milano-Cortina WOG 2026.
Especially on the Turin side, the relationship was mostly experienced in competitive terms, with a series of events and related specialisations, which originated in Turin and then migrated (‘subtracted’ from the Turin point of view) to Milan in particular.
This paper will examine the theme of food, which is central to the Expo 2015 event and to various minor events hosted in the two cities. Among these, the Turin-based kermesse Terra Madre (since 2004) – Salone del Gusto (since 1996) – stands out.
As a result of Expo, Milan has become one of the world’s leading food capitals, the first Italian city to adopt a structured food policy, and the founder of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) that started in October 2015 and by January 2024 had reached no less than 279 cities around the globe, including almost thirty in Italy. Turin has repeatedly at-tempted to represent itself as a food capital, also thanks to Terra Madre-Salone del gusto. Furthermore, it was the first Italian city to include the ‘right to food’ in its municipal statute.
This paper will attempt to deconstruct the narratives on the food-city re-lationship in Milan and Turin, largely triggered by the two major events. In the context of renewed competition for the 2026 Olympic bid, it will question the possibilities of collaboration around food spaces.
Promoting socio-cultural integration through a sustainable proximity tourism: the case of Pisino and its surroundings. – Istria is a historical region, stretching from the Gulf of Trieste and the Gulf of Quarnaro in the Adriatic Sea and the Julian Alps and the Dinaric Alps. Nowadays it is politically subdivided in three State entities; the largest part beloning to Croatia, the rest to Slovenia (mainly some cities in the coast) and to Italy (mainly the municipalities of Muggia and San Dorligo della Valle). In the past, this territory has been home for many different populations and object of many territorial disputes. This heavy cultural heritage has often caused difficulties of socio-cultural and economic integration.
Pasin, with approximately 9000 inhabitants, is the administrative main city of the region. Located in the centre of Istria, it has been isolated for a long time. Now improvements in transport infrastructure allows it to open to a niche tourism, based on its cultural heritage and its natural attactivenesses.
This paper analyses how a sustainable proximity tourism promotion in the region can contribute to understand the cultural differences, but also the common roots of the people now living in this territory, fostering social and economic development.
The enclave of Melilla: an urban area on the edge of the Mediterranean. – The Autonomous City of Melilla as well as that of Ceuta, located on the edge of the Mediterranean, represents the only two land borders between Africa and Europe. Given the particular geographical position that covers the enclave, Melilla is considered as a peripheral territory of the European Union (Sánchez, 2022). The Spatial, cultural and linguistic conflicts are reflected in the urban geography of the enclave and in the division of the city’s neighborhoods. In districts I and II, located in the center of the city, the Spanish language and the Catholic religion are pre-dominant, while the presence of Muslims and the use of the Tamazight language, mainly characterized the peripheral districts of the cities belonging to districts III, IV and V; “Language is also a place of struggle” (hooks, 1998, p. 64). The aim of this work is to analyze the marginal role that the enclave plays between urban, linguistic and religious conflicts.
Animal cities. Mediated experiences and collective narratives for unnatural geography of the wild. – The clear separation – conceptual, ethical, spatial – between man and wildlife (Whatmore, 2002) remains to this day one of the most fascinating topics of reflection around our relationship with the environment. The cultural history of the wild, especially in its North American roots, hinges on the preservation of territories marked by the absence of appreciable anthropic traces, an exotic, ahistorical nature, in open contrast to urban and peri-urban areas, understood in an Enlightenment sense as spaces of civilization, themselves purged of the presence of the non-human. A binary biogeography that unequivocally identifies the right space for the human, placed at the centre, and the non-human, at the margin. Yet, this stark contrast has been brought to the centre of both scientific debate and public interest, especially during the historic 2020 lockdown, when images and multimedia content have extensively documented the fragility of this strict division of space. Starting from a reconstruction of contemporary mass media discourse, the contribution, therefore, aims to document how the emergence and circulation of grand narratives such as that of ‘nature spaces’ or the ‘awakening of nature’ can reveal epistemological dynamics common to different socio-economic contexts, but also substantially different responses to the various phenomenologies of the wild. The very notion of the margin as a dividing border between man and nature is discussed in relation to the descriptions and representations mobilized by newspapers and social media, to explore the possibilities and potentialities of a reunion between human and non-human, even in non-domesticated forms, in anthropized environments such as those of cities.
Territorial disparities and SNAI criteria: re-thinking the classification criteria of inner peripheral areas– The concept of periphery can be defined at different scales (cities, regions, states) and according to multiple aspects which, over time, have attenuated the meaning of spatial position to favor the condition of socioeconomic marginality. In the regional context, there is a tendency to underline the decline in population and economic competitiveness, and the social decline of a territory in terms of poor relationships, often attributing them to the lack of opportunities and services, other times to poor accessibility. Some of these new meanings have been adopted by the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI in Italian matter), launched in 2012 and revised in 2020, to identify and classify peripheral municipalities, i.e. those municipalities that suffer from the distance from some public basic services offered by the larger cities. This conceptualization has stimulated a large debate on the choice of classification criteria and applied methodology that directly influence the elaboration of territorial rebalancing policies. Considering this debate, the authors of this paper have analyzed the criteria underlying the SNAI classification as a pretext for exploring the different narratives of peripheral areas that have been following one another for several decades, sometimes overlapping, other times integrating and flanking each other. According to all this, the authors propose a revision of SNAI criteria and methodology to consider the accessibility of areas and their resources and endowments, recognizing the inner and peripheral areas as a place of opportunities.
Urban borders and margins as spaces of reappropriation of the city. The case of the Fontaínhas gardens in Porto. – Increasingly, urban governments, citizens and informal groups are pursuing alternative practices to feed cities. The unease provoked by postmodern urban life, which has adulterated the human/nature relationship and exacerbated the city/land divide, generate the construction of practices to contrast these processes. The borders and margins of the «Capitalocenic» city often become places of resistance where self-production initiatives can be practised through the creation of urban gardens. Of particular interest are informal experiments that emphasise the reappropriation of physical spaces for the marginalised and the community at large. This article analyses, from a critical perspective and highlighting strengths and weaknesses, the spontaneous construction experience of the La Bananeira urban garden, carried out by an informal group on the Fontaínhas escarpment in Porto, Portugal.
Shadows of militarism on the city. An urban perspective on military geographies. – Cities represent a relevant perspective for analysing military discourses and practices. Firstly, because the urban scale continues to be the key site of conventional warfare and a space of experimentation for new forms of militarism. Secondly, because the presence and the resulting construction of military discourse determine a complex system that influences both everyday practices and the dynamics of governance. The analysis of these influences allows us to highlight points of overlap between processes of militarization and forms of urban violence (to be understood both in relation to individuals and in connection to the construction/limitation of spaces). This contribution, through an analytical dialogue between the literature on military geographies and urban studies, aims to examine the relationship between militarism at the urban scale and the geographies of violence, in cities not directly involved in war conflicts.
Beyond the metropolis. The employment trajectories of medium-sized cities in Lombardy, Lazio and Campania (2001-2019). – The importance of medium-sized cities for the cohesion of regional spaces and the promotion of more sustainable development models is often emphasised. However, their evolutionary trajectories are less investigated than those of the metropolises, considered the main hubs of innovation and the knowledge economy. This paper analyses the dynamics of jobs between 2001 and 2019 in a group of 175 medium-sized cities (20,000-200-000 inhabitants) located in Lombardy, Lazio and Campania. Significant differences in employment performance and sectoral specialisation profiles are found, concerning the different insertion of medium-sized cities in the settlement system (polarities and non-polarities of Local Labour Systems). Medium-sized cities have not always been as dynamic as metropolitan poles, which have grown stronger over the last two decades. Furthermore, greater difficulties emerge for cities with an economic base linked to the manufacturing industry, especially in Lombardy.
The Afghan Wars: Between Economic-Cultural effects and Similarities in the Eura-sian Geopolitical Scenario. – The peculiar geomorphological configuration, characterized by imposing mountain ranges and desert areas, makes Af-ghanistan a difficult-to-access territory. Autochthonous peoples (different ethnic groups united by the war against “the foreigner” that also promoted the Taliban affirmation) widely exploited such a scenario suitable for guerrillas based on sudden attacks, difficulty accessing heavy weapons, and re-sistance to air attacks. The ability to counter invasions has been confirmed in the pushback of great powers, like Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America, which previously financed the mujahideen against Russian occupation. This management problem translates into the unexpectedly long democratization campaign of Afghanistan led by the Americans, which ended on August 15, 2021. The Enduring Freedom program, which envisaged the Western agreement of seventy nations for the implementation of a democratically stable situation and lasting in Afghan territory, proved a failure in the coexistence of the Americans in the cities and the Taliban in the valleys and mountainous areas. The withdrawal of American troops generated a sudden change in the international geopolit-ical scenario and, consequently, the Middle East balance. Through a brief historical overview of the conflicts that gripped Afghanistan, this work aims to provide a picture of the geopolitical, economic and cultural effects that have influenced the precarious balance of the Middle Eastern area of the world system.
Emerging urban mobility. Critical evaluation of micromobility, e-bikes and e-scooters, between individuality, public and private. – In recent years, shared mobility has grown in many cities around the world. The term micromobility was coined to refer to low-speed shared vehicles like bicycles and scooter (moped and kick-style) that have recently drawn more attention. It offers a flexible transport option capable of avoiding road congestion encouraging intermodality. This paper aims to identify the main factors that individuals affect to adopt electric e-micromobility. Following systematic literature, we observed the reported influence of several functional and non-functional factors over the decision on whether to use an e-micromobility mode of transport in Italian cities. Cities have to provide better conditions for walking, cycling and emerging micromobilities and thereby at the same time contribute to a more sustainable and equitable urban transport system.
The Mission Tourism and Culture in the PNRR: Unrepeatable Opportunity for the Sustainability of Italian Tourist Development. – The pandemic Covid19 has brought down tourism and the Italian Government, thanks to the funds made available by the European Union through the NextGenerationEU programme, has given to this sector a strong boost in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), granting a series of investments and financing useful for a new restarting, included in the culture and tourism mission. The article, therefore, will analyze the main guidelines on which this mission is based, trying to outline the future scenarios, highlighting the costs and benefits for Italy as a whole and for inland areas and old towns, which are currently very compromised due to the sharp demographic decrease and the ageing of the population. The funds available in the PNRR could be used to launch a different phase in Italy’s tourism development, completely overturning the geography of flows that until now have been concentrated on two main routes, namely cities of art and seaside tourism, with consequent environmental and social impacts. In conclusion, the PNRR may constitute a major turning point in this sector, allowing for a spread of tourist flows, easing the impact on the now traditional destinations, but also giving development opportunities to the marginal areas of our country, expanding tourist products vertically and innovating the entire system in a sustainable manner.

Functions and benefits of green infrastructure: from contrast to climate change to the tourist positioning of cities. – Cities, in addition to being the main protagonists of global competition, represent those territorial contexts in which the effects of climate change become more evident. Among the sustainable urban planning tools supporting them are green infrastructures that can provide useful solutions capable of strengthening their resilience, transforming them into more pleasant and liveable environments. In light of these considerations, the contribution addresses the role played by green infrastructures also for the purposes of a more effective tourist positioning of cities in compliance with the sustainable development goals.

 

Smart Cities and Communities, Borghi and Inner Areas, Network Innovation

What remains of the legacy of Matera 2019 after Covid-19. – The health crisis, which brought with it a consequent economic and socio-cultural crisis, dramatically revealed the vulnerability of our economic and production model, which is not very resilient to sudden and sudden changes. The coronavirus crisis requires, in fact, to take the lens of sustainable development and the 17 Sdgs grid to "inspire" the restart, proposing and taking better choices for the future, thus avoiding wasting resources and perpetrating in secular errors. Nothing will be like before for the sectors that have suffered and are experiencing the uncertainty of tomorrow: first of all, tourism. Tourism and, more generally, the entire hospitality, catering and culture sector are among the sectors most affected by the Coronavirus crisis. Some particularly critical situations are above all in cities that add culture, business and congresses. The case of Matera, ready to manage and reap the legacy of the extraordinary year from ECoC, clearly poses the urgency of the convinced turn towards the 2030 Agenda, to make our territories more sustainable, resilient and inclusive.

Territorial Reorganisation and Differentiated Autonomy: A Matter to be discussed in light of the Plague. – The arrangement of local self-government is one of the elements that the management of Covid-19 has involved most. During this period people saw many difficulties of the Italian administrative structure and it had consequences on the efficiency of the institutions and markets too. The arrival of Covid-19 has called into question many aspects of internal life in the country and the gained experience pushes for the revision of some aspects of Italian political affairs. This contribu-tion aims to underline – through two case studies – some themes of political geography raised by the new condition and to indicate the new opportunities they open up. To do this, the authors discuss, on the one hand, the reorganization of the state administration after Law 56 of 2014, the new hierarchy of administrative powers and the launch of the Metropolitan Cities. On the other hand, they address the debate on the request for Autonomia differenziata (differentiated autonomy) presented by three regions – Veneto, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna – in order to in-crease their spaces of power, and the consequences for the rest of the country.

The geographic revolution of the Cardinal College and the redistribution from the center to the peripheries of the power to elect the Pope, between cities, nations and continents.

The Invisibles of the Cities. Urban Marginality beyond the Ghettos. – Urban marginality can assume many spatial distributions. Besides the common spatial concentration of marginality – such as ghettos, slums etc. – it is possible to identify many situations of widespread marginality. In these situations, people appear, and sometimes are considered, invisible for the society. By, living this widespread marginality, people reduce their possibilities to be included in social relathionships and network and, are rarely involved in any marginality reduction process. Laying on this framework the paper aims to suggest a conceptual approach to marginality, analyzing how the urban transformations impact on marginalization processes, and the relative spatial and social distribution of marginality.

È ben noto come il processo di urbanizzazione degli abitanti del pianeta coincidente con la prima rivoluzione industriale abbia proceduto a ritmi serrati e come negli ultimi decenni, in parallelo con le trasformazioni della produzione di beni e servizi, e della sua articolazione a livello geografico, abbia subito una ulteriore straordinaria accelerazione con proiezioni di medio periodo dello stesso segno.

 

 

 

 

An Overview of the Tourism Planning of the City of Recife. – Recife is a beautiful city located in the North east of Brazil. Like the majority of Brazilian cities, it had never had a proper tourism plan before the one developed in 2013 – even considering its innate potential. This article aims to share that plan, in which a few field researches were done, as well as informal interviews with the main actors involved. Throughout the years of implementation and execution, not only the impact of external factors was sensitively perceived but also the importance of a dynamic (and participative) revaluation of the plan itself.

“Metamorphosis of the city”: Resilience and Interculturality. – With the advent of urban sprawl, the places have changed its physical structure by influencing the social and urban fabric. New Urbanism is a decisive movement for America and Europe, through it was possible to draw new planning visions. A current that would currently shooting for the operation, which has been show to improve the livability of neighborhoods and cities.
The methodology of resilience thinking and participation tools could improve the strategic planning and management of change and transformation of the social and urban systems, helping the administration to manage the urban policies.

The crisis of the city in the age of the privatization urbanism. – We are seeing an unprecedented crisis that is sweeping many Italian cities and will affect also the urbane welfare. Health care was the first victim of this vision. Cancellation of hospitals, health centers and clinics and then the closing of the courts, of the Post Office and of the decentralized State's structures. Today even the primary schools of smaller municipalities risk of disappearing . Some cities go out, entire populations living an unprecedented setback and they lose their social integration prospects.

So if we want to maintain an acceptable standard of living and socializing in our cities we have to identify the real causes that led to the financial meltdown of italian municipalities and find the solutions to restore a perspective to the system of local governments. Otherwise, we risk to close a millenary urban history.

Mountains, cities inland areas in Italy: a challenge for a public policies. – From the analysis of the national project about "inland areas" started by Fabrizio Barca in 2012, ex minister of the Territorial Cohesion, we will want to know the importance of the different meaning of the terms "inland areas" and "mountains" because very frequently we flatten the differences between the two. It is not only two reality that not coincide geographically, are also two concept really different.

The first part of this article will be dedicated to define this characters and their relevance for cohesion policies. The second part will consider the relations of interdependence of the cities with their hinterland mountains as a possible subject of political relations based on a reciprocity artificial ecosystem.

In the course of the time, the concept of «uncertainty» has been investigated from different points of view. The aim of this article is to provide an interpretational key of present territorial process – first of all starting off by the example of Rome town in the real estate market, to make a comparison with other Italian cities – basing on the idea of «geography of uncertainty». Such a conceptual formulation will be associated with uneven developments and oscillatory movements of modern occidental economy.