LE AREE INTERNE E LE POLITICHE DI SVILUPPO RURALE

How can we address the demographic challenges and the climate crisis that threaten rural and inner areas in today’s world? This course aims to analyze these issues from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, emphasizing the need for integrated rural development policies that take into account the interconnections among social, economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions.

Rural areas worldwide are facing complex and multidimensional challenges. Whereas in the past rural development was predominantly understood as support for the agricultural sector, today such an approach is no longer adequate. Processes of depopulation and demographic ageing, difficulties in retaining and attracting young people, the increasingly evident impacts of climate change, territorial inequalities, and the persistent digital divide all highlight the insufficiency of a sectoral approach and the urgent need for integrated strategies.

The course begins with an analysis of the socioeconomic variables that characterize different rural communities, before exploring key theoretical and methodological approaches as well as significant empirical experiences. Particular attention will be devoted to the multifunctionality of rural territories, to integrated rural development policies, and to implementation practices carried out at the European, international, and extra-OECD levels, in order to underline both the global nature of these challenges and the possible trajectories for response. 

Specific competences

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Understand and analyze territorial dynamics in international contexts. 
• Identify key actors and governance issues at local and global scales.
• Analyze institutional and organizational changes in territorial public action worldwide.
• Illustrate with examples the key concepts of sustainable rural development globally.
• Describe rural development policies and programs in Europe and other continents.
• Understand how rural development interventions are implemented in diverse contexts.
• Support arguments regarding different operational approaches in an international framework.

Transversal competences

• Ability to develop a critical perspective on social, economic, and environmental dynamics shaping land use.
• Skills in territorial and environmental analysis, evaluation, and diagnosis at national and international levels.
• Problem-solving in multidisciplinary scenarios applied to global contexts.
• Ability to communicate knowledge and conclusions effectively to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• Autonomy in advanced study of rural development themes across different world regions.

• Lectures covering theoretical and political principles and relationships shaping rural development policies in comparative perspective. 
• Case study analyses (national and international) to assess successes and failures in rural development practices. 
• Use of comparative socioeconomic and environmental indicators.

Unit I: The Rural World in a Global Perspective (2 ECTS)

·      Definitions and identification of rural areas.

·      Classification methodologies: OECD, Eurostat, and non-EU approaches.

·      Institutions and actors in rural development across the globe.

·      Economic theories and exogenous and endogenous approaches to rural development.

·      Industrial districts, local milieus, and rural community networks worldwide.

Unit II: Policies and Strategies for Inner and Rural Areas (2 ECTS)

·      The origins and evolution of rural development policies in Europe and beyond.

·      Principles of rural development and intervention measures worldwide.

·      Territorial innovation and the place-based approach to development.

·      The Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas compared to experiences in North America, Latin America, and Asia.

·      Rural development policies of international organizations (UN, FAO, World Bank, IFAD). 

Unit III: Inner Areas – A Comparative Picture of Territories (2 ECTS)

·      Common needs and challenges of inner and rural areas globally.

·      Case studies: digital divide, youth entrepreneurship, business networks, quality agricultural production, sustainable tourism.

·      Comparative analysis: European, African, Latin American, and Asian models.

Essential bibliography

• McAreavey, R. (2009). Rural Development Theory and Practice. Routledge.
• Sotte F. (2008). L’evoluzione del rurale. Teoria e politica per lo sviluppo integrato del territorio. FrancoAngeli.
• Uthes, S., Li, F., & Kelly, E. (2017). Does EU rural expenditure correspond to regional development needs? Land Use Policy, 60.
• Petino G. (2020). Atlante Siciliano delle aree interne e delle specialities Agricole. Aracne.
• OECD Principles on Rural Policy (OECD).
• FAO & IFAD Reports on Rural Development.
• World Bank, Rural Development Strategy. 
• UN documents on Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals.
• Sources: OECD, FAO, IFAD, World Bank, INEA, ISMEA, ISTAT, EUROSTAT

Individual and group assignments (35%): analysis of international case studies.

Written exam with open and closed questions (65%): assessment of theoretical and applied knowledge in a global context.

Potential exam topics

•        Dynamics of rural areas and reference indicators in international contexts.
• ·      Public policies and collective action across continents.
• ·      Public and private actors in territories: comparative logics of action.
• ·      Rural amenities as a development factor: regulations, incentives, collective actions in Italy and worldwide.
• ·      Public policies and territories in the EU and other macro-regions.