On a worldwide scale, cities and regions must tackle the challenges set by the radical change in our society and in our economy, aiming to develop effective public policies and boost their managerial, evaluation and planning skills. Anyway, it is essential to put a new idea of city at the centre of the smart strategies in order to bring policies back to their former central position, since technologies alone cannot generate welfare and prosperity. Local leadership, integrated planning and a rich social fabric go hand in hand, the social capital being able to produce an added value for the cities. We are exactly in a new phase of urban growth centred on the economy of services characterized by widespread digital technologies and new innovative organization patterns, which encourage the participation in the civic policy processes through the realization of structures to share information and data so as to define intervention policies. The most recent studies and trials about innovation and competitiveness, such as the examples illustrated in the present work (Amsterdam, Paredes, Aarhus and Gent) show a growing interest in measuring the relationship between innovation and economic growth at various territorial levels, key factors in conceiving inclusive smart strategies, linked to principles of sustainability and territorial cohesion, and building smarter cities. In the light of these remarks, the article is divided into three parts: the first part is focussed on the above-mentioned central issues of the international debate; the second part examines four significant European initiatives; the third part draws preliminary conclusions and directions for further research.

Il processo di abbandono e spopolamento dei piccoli centri è un fenomeno complesso, diversificato e di ampia portata ampia in quanto coinvolge vaste aree dell’UE e, pur essendo una questione che affonda le sue radici nelle vicende storico-politiche e socio-economiche di oltre un secolo, sta assumendo un’importanza crescente a causa dei ritmi accelerati delle attuali dinamiche demografiche e dell’urbanizzazione, della quale costituiscono la faccia più nascosta. Infatti, se da un lato abbandono e spopolamento sono un fenomeno fondamentalmente locale, tutti i luoghi, per quanto piccoli, possono essere connessi a più ampie dinamiche globali e fra loro interdipendenti. Considerato che l’UE punta a promuovere lo sviluppo armonioso globale e a ridurre le disparità tra i livelli di sviluppo delle varie regioni, le politiche riguardanti le aree interne rientrano nei suoi sforzi per rafforzare la coesione economica, sociale e territoriale, anche in coerenza con i 17 Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile ONU. Pertanto, queste aree possono essere laboratori privilegiati per sperimentare politiche innovative orientate ad affrontare le sfide globali. I casi di studio proposti, in Spagna e in Italia, sono accomunati da un approccio integrato fra i settori turistico-culturale, dell’accessibilità, dei servizi, della filiera agro-alimentare, che mira a valorizzare gli asset territoriali per scenari innovativi di sviluppo. The Challenge of Inner Areas: From Problematic Areas to Places of Opportunities for a Better Future of Marginal Territories The abandonment and depopulation of small towns is a complex, diversified, and broader phenomenon that involves large areas of the EU. Although the question has its roots in the historical, political, and socio-economic events for over a century, the current demographic dynamics and urbanization are becoming increasingly important. Abandonment and depopulation are fundamentally local phenomena; however, small places may be connected to broader global, and interdependent dynamics. Given that the EU aims to promote harmonious, worldwide development and reduce disparities between development levels in different regions, policies concerning inner areas are part of its efforts to strengthen economic, social, and territorial cohesion. The purpose is also to look at sustainable the 17 Sustainable Development Goals ONU. Therefore, these areas can be privileged laboratories to experiment with innovative policies aimed at facing global challenges. In Spain and Italy, the case studies proposed have in common an integrated approach between the tourism sectors, cultural heritage, accessibility, services, agri-food supply chains, aimed at enhancing local specificities for innovative development scenarios.

The case of Trieste is particularly significant in the study of the relational dynamics between the city and the port, above all if the changes that have occurred over the last two decades in the geopolitical and economic context and the following aspects are taken into account: EU enlargement towards the East; an increase in the traffic flows between East and West and between North and South; a shift of the economic barycentre and the new central role of the Mediterranean sea; EU policies and envisaged reinforcement of pan-European infrastructural networks; impacts on port cities in terms of policies, plans and projects. After reconsidering the role of the port in the formation and development of the city, the current situation offers new opportunities but also presents challenges that will have to be overcome in order to acquire a strategic key position in the relations between the Mediterranean basin and Central and Eastern Europe, which have been searching for a delicate equilibrium between global and local levels.