Digital currency and geopolitics: the challenge between United States and China. – This research focuses on the potentially revolutionary role of the Chinese digital currency, the Electronic Renminbi, in reshaping the Chinese banking system and transnational geopolitical and economic dynamics. The e-RMB, part of the Chinese reform agenda since 2015, aims to redefine international balances by challenging the dominance of the US dollar. The Chinese strategy, exemplified by initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative, seeks to transition from American unipolarity to a multipolar system, ensuring stability for China’s economic growth. The e-RMB presents a seemingly liberal standard with privacy guarantees, but it actually aims to build a parallel system based on authoritarian capitalism and surveillance in the new territories of cyberspace.

Relational goods, imbalances, and the society-environment relationship. – The interactions between the economy, the environment, and territorial systems form a complex network that influences the structure and development of regions. The reflection is carried out both in relation to imbalances and in the reinterpretation of ecological and socio-spatial relations, collaborative processes, and the organisation and reorganisation of space as relational goods. The issue of territorial imbalances is linked to the question of conflicts within political ecology. The objective of this paper is, therefore, to present a theoretical reflection that aims to deepen the relationship between the economy, the environment, and territorial systems, focusing specifically on relational goods in the context of two spatiotemporal dimensions and referring to a territorial system as an alternative approach. The complexity of the territorial system, therefore, suggests taking into account the communicative and relational interdependencies between local actors, that influence economic growth and sustainable development. Finally, the responsible use of territorial resources requires public policies that reduce spatial inequalities, promote the active participation of territorial actors and the sustainable management of resources as components of local development.

Economic resilience and sustainability: Macroeconomic indicators and pre- and post-crisis political dynamics in the European Union. – This study examines the complex articulation of the global economic crisis on the member countries of the European Union (EU) in the last decade, and outlines diversified empirical results based on economic performances detected through appropriate indicators at national and community scale. Adopting a multi-disciplinary perspective, the study investigates the possible responses to the crisis of the EU institutions and individual member states by evaluating, among others, the adjustment programs supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the initiatives aimed at promoting solidarity tax. The study is based on the comparison of macroeconomic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), public debt, budget deficit, and unemployment rate. This allows us to provide a comparative perspective on regional disparities and national economic dynamics. The impact of external factors such as the pandemic (Covid-19), and geopolitical conflicts on continental chessboards, finally allow us to highlight the current challenges and the importance of coordinated action and inclusive governance to guarantee unity and, together, resilience of member countries. The study highlights the importance of promoting fiscal solidarity, improving economic governance and closing disparities in order to promote sustainable growth and prosperity across the EU.

Southern transhumance routes between old and new economic perspectives: the case of Basilicata. – Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock guided, from dawn to dusk, by groups of shepherds together with their dogs and horses between the mountains and the plains along constant and marked routes between five geographical regions of the South. Since 2019 it has been included in the UNESCO heritage with its ways and can still be a driving force for economic and social growth for the regions of Southern Italy. In this work, taking into consideration the changes taking place on a global scale, we want to promote greater awareness of the genesis and evolution of the ways of transhumance and its economic vocations, of the production chains respecting cultural values and territorial identities, lifeblood for many fragile territories. A particular case is represented by the Basilicata region, so strongly interested in improving the quality of life of its smaller towns crossed by grass roads.
The contribution mainly examines the pilot project Parcovie 2030, as part of the Recovery Plan 2021.

From transhumant to sedentary and “return”: the case of small pastoral activities in the Gulf of Augusta. – The processes of territorialisation and de-territorialisation that have taken place in the Gulf of Augusta are the result of an ‘oil culture’ that has long favoured economic growth and employment to the detriment of the territorial context and the original productive uses. It thus happens that, within the district formed by the four municipalities of Au-gusta, Melilli, Priolo Gargallo and Syracuse, Sicily, very different forms of economic activity coexist, some inherited from a late industrialism based on the petrochemical industry, others on more ancient agricultural and breeding practices. In this case study, the focus of the research was the observation of a small group of transhumant sheep and goat breeders, originating from an area north of Etna but who, for economic reasons, have become settled in areas that are close to industrial activities and, for the same reasons, transhumate in the small territory of the province of Syracuse. However, dairy products are sold to Etna’s dairies, potentially creating an information gap with the place of production. Between the chemical industry and agriculture, between different livestock farms, the area lives with forced coexistence that can hardly ever be considered an added value for one another, and the reason for this is easy to guess. The aim of the research is to understand these cohabitations and what drove the farmers to leave their territory of origin and settle in the Priolo Gargallo area with its controversial dynamics. To do this, documentation techniques typical of geography and visual research and interview techniques used in anthropological research were used.

NextGenerationEU between pandemic, war, and energy transition. – The energy transition has been strongly questioned by the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The European Green Deal – designed and approved before the Covid-19 pandemic – became fully part of economic recovery program of the pandemic, and the war as well. Actually, the Green Deal becomes one of the fundamental pillars of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Plan, as well as of NextGenerationEU and, consequently, of the various national plans related to it, including the Italian PNRR. As a typical win-win policy, NextGenerationEU must solve the problems related to the economic crisis, and those related to environmental quality, through the energy transition, as well. Obviously, the economic recover does not necessarily fit perfectly into an energy transition program. Actually, the policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions might imply many issues, related to economy and labor policies. Added to this are the socio-economic gaps between the countries that make up the EU, which have produced an energy divide (different levels of energy demand, different efficiency, different composition of primary energy sources), which has also further increased. from the pandemic, which requires a “calibrated” approach. This condition produces a more complex energy transition, and in many countries - especially those with the lowest GDP per capita - it could create obstacles to economic recovery. Although a Just Transition Mechanism has been prepared, precisely to bridge these gaps, the energy transition could be perceived as an external interference and a brake on growth, becoming a lever for forms of nationalism and sovereignty in key anti-European. The proposed work - after analyzing the structure of the energy supply in the EU, highlighting the inconsistencies in it - will address the impact of the Green Deal in the energy transition process associated with the relaunch of the economy.

Economic growth and human development: From “theoretical” reflection to the opportunities of the “NewgenerationEU” plan. – With the publication by Serge Latouche, of “La décroissance” (2006) and even before with “Les dangers du marché planetaire” (1998), the need for a drastic change in the perspective of development followed by the Western world is felt, to be achieved through a clear modification of the fundamental parameters of economic growth. In the years immediately following, a group of scholars coordinated by geographer M.G. Lucia, published in-depth research on the interaction that crosses economy, environment and society in the link between “weak” and “strong” sustainibility. Starting from these bases, the contribution, through a careful survey of the literature on the subject, delves into a topical aspect of the expected process of “ecological transition” according to the geo-economic prospects related to the creation of new job opportunities in the area of the so-called “Good jobs”.

Environmental transition and energy transition. A regional analysis – The relationship between environmental quality and GDP has been emphasized in the past, placing the accent on the “natural” trend towards improving environmental quality during the maturity of economic growth, after its deterioration in “takeoff” phases of the economy, according the socalled Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). This condition has in many parts been disavowed or weakened. In the same way, an attempt was made to read the energy transition through the EKC filter, but a regional analysis, carried out within the European Union, of the components of the energy transition (energy demand, intensity of energy, consumption of fossil fuels and renewables) shows that these conditions can vary considerably from country to country and that policies can determine changes, not just economic growth.

Covid-19: crisis of globalization and “revenge of the border”. The effects of the pandemic on the world economic and political future. – The rapid global spread of the Covid-19 virus has strongly highlighted, on multiple and transcalar levels, some problems that emerged worldwide after the end of bipolarism and the advent of the 21st century, i.e. the crisis of globalization and the “revenge of the borders”, which have clear repercussions on the world economic and political situation. The pandemic is entering a phase of global instability, linked to the tensions caused by the trade war between the United States and China, as well as the slowdown of the economy and the growth of populisms. In this sense, the consequences of the pandemic have caused the greatest shock to the international order since the Second World War.

Redefine tourism model. Reflection: critical issues emerged during Covid-19. – The new emergency we are facing with current spread of coronavirus imposes restrictions in everyday life and mobility across different territories and countries; we are globally compelled to face mutual problems, regardless of unilateral positions and this is giving strength to globalization just when a crisis of the globalized world model seemed to be consolidat-ing. Even modern tourism in the pre-pandemic economic and political situation was building a path of progressive quantitative growth and showing positive signs even in the most difficult moments of the recent international economic crisis. However, global tourism is now displaying an overall weakness as never happened in the pasts and it is starting featuring negative data and forecasts showing how this emergency is affecting a substantial portion of the Italian economy, which has reached 13,2% of GDP in 2018 with subsequent significant meaning also in terms of employment. Although it is difficult to foresee future tourism developments, this paper wants to suggest a reflection on the possible scenarios that could be configured out in the medium term, starting from considerations on the role that the national corporate system in tourism has played within the Italian supply chain.

Pandemic crisis and economic crisis. The historiographical debate on the effects of the Black Death. – The great plague which hit Europe from 1348 has long been at the core of different historiographical interests. Alongside research focusing on the demographic consequences of the plague, other studies examined strictly epidemiologic issues, the socio-political effects of the crisis, or its „emotive‟ impact in the long term. Among the questions taken into consideration, the relationship between plague and economic trends has obviously played a crucial part. The essay aims to look at this debate, especially highlighting the significant interpretative changes which emerged in the past few decades. The gloomy picture of the post-plague economy, marked by a long decline, has now been replaced by a more optimistic view, which tends to underline the positive consequences brought about by the demographic drop in the medium-long term: in terms of wage growth, for instance, or increase in consumption, but also of the weakening of aristocratic control over peasants‟ work, processes of productive specialization, and the increase of commercial exchange.

The Italian agri-food industry between global and local: food habits before and during the pandemic virus Covid-19. – The pandemic generated by the virus known as Covid-19 is an expression of an unbalanced relationship between man and environment on which geography is called to investigate and also to redefine the spaces of intervention. It will be useful to propose the adoption of a trasncalar point of view that, if in one way widens the horizon to the entire globe in a contagion and in a need for collaboration that do not recognize nor can allow us to raise limits, on the other hand, it becomes a metaphor and a warning to create a new ecology and new social political relations to weave as much at a global level as at a local and personal level.
From the forced isolation – due to the rules of social distancing adopted in many European and non – European states – paradoxically emerged a glocal dialectic to interpret. As can be seen from observing what is happening in the Italian agri-food sector, on one hand we are forced to open our economic spaces recognizing the indispensable contribution of immigrant labour for the cultivation and harvest in the fields. On the other hand we are led to close the horizon of our primary needs without being able to address the question to our trusted provider and/or topographically closer even through the network that puts us in contact with the entire rural world. The authors, also thanks to the results of the direct survey, conducted on the purchases and the alimentary habits of the families during the pandemic, underline the opportunities of growth and valorisation of the Italian agricultural and food sector.

Smart: Opportunities and Risks for Urban Development and Challenges for the African Continent. – In recent decades there has been a proliferation of studies, research and approaches to the “smart” theme, viewed with interest as the “new” frontier of sustainability, which seeks to combine technological development with territorial development, social inclusion with environmental protection. This seems very stimulating for the develop-ment of the poorest regions of the Earth, which, following political instability, or economic difficulties, or structural and infrastructural back-wardness, are lagging behind the richest and most stable regions, although in recent years they are witnessing a very fast GDP growth rate. Starting from some definitions of “city”, I will examine the concept of “smart city” and will try to identify the approaches that best respond not only to objective needs for the development of a territory, but also to its qualitative characteristics, in so that “smart” urban and territorial planning projects represent a real and effective instrument of integrated and lasting development, also in urban and rural Africa.

Mauritius island has been nearly uninhabited until XVIth Century, when firstly Portuguese, then Dutch, French and Eng-lish powers took possession of it. The island’s population growth was due to two main causes: in the first moment to the commerce, then to the exploitation of resources, with important environmental transforma-tions.Until the independence was declared in 1968, the main economic source was the cultivation of sugar cane, for which African slaves, and then In-dian and Chinese workers was used.Starting from the independence period the economic structure of the is-land has changed, with a significant diversification of the productive ac-tivities. Beach tourism is now a vital economic sector of the island, but it hasn’t changed the population distribution of the island, mainly concen-trated in the internal areas.The aim of this article is to analyze the evolution of the populating dy-namics of the island and the economic trends and finally observe their territorial and environmental impacts.