Initiatives for Territorial Regeneration Under the Prism of Social Innovation: A Comparison Between Alpujarras (Spain) and Monti Dauni (Italy)

Abstract

In the context of development policies favoring marginal areas, the LEADER approach represents one of the most innovative tools for regenerating rural areas throughout Europe. It considers the territory in its complexity and uniqueness. This emblematic change inevitably goes, hand in hand with the downward transfer of powers enabling the transition from a top-down to a participatory bottom-up approach to take place. Several European experiences document successful practices in neo-endogenous rural development and the promotion of social innovation under the LEADER lens and this thanks to the local capacity to combine internal resources, human and social capital with scientific knowledge and technical inputs, to coordinate internal and external actors, all this contributing to the development of regeneration projects in the rural areas. This study aims to analyze the effects of this local development approach in the regeneration of two marginal areas considered significant in Spain and Italy. The methodology is based on the in-depth and qualitative study of two selected projects. The research method is a preliminary attempt to evaluate the dynamics and processes of territorial regeneration in two areas at different stages of the process, more mature in Spain, and more recent still ongoing in Italy. Regenerative, relational and transformative dynamics are key elements for understanding the meanings and functions of these neo-endogenous initiatives and, therefore, for encouraging the concrete implementation of community indications on a local scale.