New development policies for the internal areas of Southern Italy. General principles for the valorization of rural areas in Calabria Region

Abstract

Due to pollution and, most significantly, climate change, the World is faced with two challenges: the social problem of rising poverty and social inequality, as well as the ecological challenge of biodiversity loss. Cities have become the main responsible for the above, being large consumers of energy, generating increasing negative impacts in terms of reduced biodiversity, production of various pollutants that adversely affect health (which depends on the energy used). One consequence is the necessity for urban/territorial planning that is different from traditional planning. Within this framework, it is necessary to promote urban and environmental regeneration tools that respond more than others to solving the problems of marginality and physical/cultural degradation of urbanised centres with the aim of improving the quality of life of their inhabitants. The aim of this paper is to suggest new urban planning perspectives for the valorization of the internal areas considering the project results of the EU Horizon 2020 CLIC-Circular models project Leveraging Investments in Adaptive Reuse of Cultural Heritage. In particular, have been proposed new potential circular/sustainable strategies for the regeneration of rural areas in the Calabria Region (South Italy), in light of the general progressive aging of the population.