This article analyzes inner and marginal territories in four Italian peripheral contexts by first discussing some of the results and future steps of the “B4R Branding4Resilience” research project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Research from 2020 to 2023. The overall research is based on three phases: (1) the exploration phase to analyze socio-economic data and territorial dynamics; (2) the co-design phase involving local actors to develop ideas for a selected pilot case; (3) the co-visioning phase where a future transformative perspective for the whole area was shared with the institutions. The article focuses on phase 1 and presents some first results achieved by the application of a methodological approach based on the integration of different qualitative and quantitative tools and methods. The results outline the exploration of the four selected territories through data analyses and mapping, perceptive-narrative explorations, field research, and explorative designs. The concept of peripherality is addressed in a critical way, trying to go beyond standardized definitions, including interdisciplinarity as an essential tool for territorial enhancement and branding. The main interpretation findings not only outline possible strategies and actions for the four analyzed inner territories, but also foster the application of the proposed methodological approach in other complex socio-economic contexts.

The Italian debate on the so-called ‘inner areas’ has received a much-needed boost, following the COVID-19 pandemic, which has further highlighted the differences between metropolitan and inner areas. While the progressive depopulation of inner areas is a worrying phenomenon, the limits of incessant urbanisation and the concentration of settlement and infrastructure policies in large conurbations have become evident. Departing from the framework of the B4R-Branding4Resilience research project of national interest and, by continuing in the furrow initiated by the SNAI, but also surpassing it, the aim of the University of Palermo’s research is to define the requirement for a more inclusive settlement model in the Sicani area in Sicily (Italy) to re-balance existing asymmetries by recharging peripheral areas with new centrality. The aims of the research are to demonstrate that inner areas could be an engine for innovation, thereby outlining a roadmap through which to encourage the resilience of new sustainable lifestyles. These aims would be achieved by working on new perspectives and projects, which are capable of radically modifying production, consumption, and tourism dynamics and work/life models, and which are gleaned from a study regarding the Sicani area in Sicily. The paper discusses case study quantitative and qualitative analyses and first results.

When Covid-19 arrived in Europe from the far East, the media and experts in economics and social sciences noticed that it was the expected discontinuity in the socio-economic development process. Really, the current phase has spread since the 1960s, when the application of econometric worldwide-spread development model was going to produce social inequalities, and consumption of physical, social, and cultural resources. Some places in Italy, far from the erosive and urban context and erosive metropolitan areas, are currently isolated seeds of a new cycle of life, because of the local community identity and the strong link between human, cultural, and natural components are currently working together towards a new development model. Starting from a 20-year research about Local Cultural Systems in Sicily, the research group has defined and tested the cultural dimension of development, and affirmed that the transition to a culture-based growth, as defined by UNESCO, should be the solution for overcoming the erosive Anthropocene era. In western Sicily, the Belice Valley is working on cultural transition thanks to relationships between cultural heritage, identity, and settlement network, that we have designed as a Territorial Archipelago. The research demonstrates that local communities will innovate if they rethink the development model and reshape spatial patterns and economic networks focusing on the creativity-driven vision.