In aperta critica con le retoriche del multiculturalismo, il contributo esamina le problematiche ... more In aperta critica con le retoriche del multiculturalismo, il contributo esamina le problematiche della convivenza interetnica negli spazi urbani sottoposti ad intensa presenza immigrata. In particolare, si esamina il caso di un ambito urbano di Roma situato nel quadrante orientale della città, ove la presenza immigrata ha profondamente trasformato gli spazi e le pratiche sociali di quartiere. Estremi bibliografici: T. BANINI, “Teano a Roma. Pratiche interetniche in una microcittà”, in G. CUSIMANO (a cura di), Spazi contesi spazi condivisi. Geografie dell’interculturalità, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 2010, pp. 101-124. ISBN 978-88-555-3078-1.
Il contributo esamina il fenomeno delle migrazioni internazionali contemporanee alla luce delle d... more Il contributo esamina il fenomeno delle migrazioni internazionali contemporanee alla luce delle disuguaglianze sociali ed economiche globali, ponendo in discussione la retorica del multiculturalismo, che si rivela in netta contrapposizione con gli obiettivi della sostenibilità ambientale, così come con la tutela e la valorizzazione delle specificità culturali. Estremi bibliografici: T. BANINI, “Immigrazione, sottosviluppo e multiculturalismo. Teorie e pratiche dell’etnocentrismo occidentale”, in G. CUSIMANO (a cura di), Spazi contesi spazi condivisi. Geografie dell’interculturalità, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 2010, pp. 79-98. ISBN 978-88-555-3078-1
In the everyday language, as well as in the political and institutional one, territorial identity... more In the everyday language, as well as in the political and institutional one, territorial identity is an expression largely used, thanks to its strong evocative and performative power. Therefore, territorial identity is often treated as a taken-for-granted concept, or rather as ‘something’ that territories ‘have’ or ‘do not have’, for better or for worse. In these cases, there is the risk of falling into essentialist conceptions of territorial identity that ascribe some connotations to territories on the basis of reified discourses, stereotypes, habits or clichés, without considering some key questions (territorial identity according to whom? By what criteria? And for what purposes?). When local territorial identity is understood as closely linked to sustainable, participatory and place-based development issues, it can become a dynamic, open, and plural social construction process, through which collectivities/groups choose the distinctive characteristics of the territory they inhabi...
Il volume analizza i modi in cui l’uomo si discosta dalla natura, comportandosi come entità alien... more Il volume analizza i modi in cui l’uomo si discosta dalla natura, comportandosi come entità aliena rispetto ad essa, evidenziando le profonde ingiustizie sociali che accompagnano la questione ambientale e le responsabilità dei singoli individui nel procrastinare un modello comportamentale che è inevitabilmente destinato, senza finti allarmismi, a concludersi
Dopo aver introdotto il concetto di identità collettiva alla luce della crisi degli Stati-nazione... more Dopo aver introdotto il concetto di identità collettiva alla luce della crisi degli Stati-nazione e delle dinamiche locale-globale, il contributo si sofferma sul caso delle città capitali, nella loro duplice dimensione sociale e istituzionale, proponendo una chiave di lettura che le configura come laboratori di identità transcalari. Estremi bibliografici: T. Banini, "Identità e territorio nelle citta-capitali", in E. CAPUZZO (a cura di), La città capitale tra mito e realtà (XVIII-XXI secolo). Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Roma, 22-24 maggio 2003), Napoli, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane (Coll. "Quaderni di Clio"), 2003, pp. 169-193.
Quali vissuti migratori connotano abitanti ed operatori economici cinesi dell'Esquilino, quar... more Quali vissuti migratori connotano abitanti ed operatori economici cinesi dell'Esquilino, quartiere multietnico di Roma? Attraverso quali reti di relazione sono arrivati nel rione? Ritengono davvero di essere una comunità chiusa, poco incline al confronto interetnico, come emerge dagli studi pregressi? Ed eventualmente, quali ostacoli impediscono di interagire con gli italiani e/o con persone di altre nazionalità? Quali dinamiche si registrano tra le giovani generazioni cinesi? Questo contributo si propone l'obiettivo di dare risposta a tali interrogativi, dapprima realizzando una rassegna critica degli studi focalizzati sulla collettività cinese dell'Esquilino, quindi esponendo i risultati di una ricerca sul campo condotta per l'occasione, attraverso l'impiego di interviste in profondità a persone di provenienza cinese che vivono e operano nel rione.
Although the model of unlimited economic growth was a matter of debate at least fifty years ago, ... more Although the model of unlimited economic growth was a matter of debate at least fifty years ago, human behavior on Earth continues to be based on the priority given to the ephemeral individual needs of a minority of the global population, exacerbating social and territorial imbalances, environment and landscape degradation and cultural homologation. Such behavior, the result of Cartesian dichotomies, superseded in theory but not in practice, poses for geography some crucial epistemological questions, as it is a discipline founded on the relationship between nature and human beings, but then more and more oriented to focus attention on man's actions, representations, and meta-narratives. By presenting some critical reflections both on development, progress and technology, and on how some relevant thinkers have envisioned our natural environment over time, the paper aims at offering some meta-theoretical reflections. A return of geography to the centrality of nature - as a prelimi...
Producing and transmitting geographical knowledge in the digital age. Some considerations and que... more Producing and transmitting geographical knowledge in the digital age. Some considerations and questions Digital technologies are fully included among the factors that marked the recent history of mankind, like the advent of writing, printing and analog communication systems, but with an impact even more pervasive and generalized. There is more than a reason to reflect on the impact of this epochal transformation also within the academic disciplines, whose work focuses on the production and transmission of knowledge. Even more this reflection invests geography, as digital technologies contributed to revolutionize key concepts and usual practices of the discipline. After having outlined some cornerstones of the debate on digital technologies in geography, this paper – due to the limited editorial space at disposition – focuses only on a few modifications introduced by these technologies in the construction and dissemination of geographical knowledge, with the aim of proposing some ref...
This article introduces the contributions collected in the special issue no. 1/2018 of \u201cgeot... more This article introduces the contributions collected in the special issue no. 1/2018 of \u201cgeotema\u201d and presented at the 4th Study Day on Territorial Identities (Rome, September 22nd, 2017), promoted by the homonymous research group of the A.Ge.I. (Associations of Italian Geographers). The paper aims at discussing some basic questions on participatory processes, in order to pursue four objectives: 1) to recall some of the main issues that revolve around the topic of citizen participation in territorial decision-making processes; 2) to specify the ties between territorial identity (as intended by the research group) and participatory processes; 3) to highlight the questions raised by the contributions presented at the study day; 4) to propose an action for the professionalization of geographical skills in participation, with special reference to the Italian context
The Esquiline district of Rome has gone through important changes over the last decades, due to t... more The Esquiline district of Rome has gone through important changes over the last decades, due to the strong presence of immigrants, mainly from China and Bangladesh, whose shops and performative ethnicity have radically modified both the place experience and the relational tissue of this central area of the city, adjacent to the Termini railway station. Newspapers, TV programs and a number of websites depict the Esquiline as a symbol of urban and social decay, often associated with immigrants. Scientific research seems to support this rhetoric of decay, when speaking of the Esquiline as an example of how marginality, in the time of globalization, can no longer be ascribed to the centre-periphery pattern, but to different, contingent, and contextual forms. But according to historical inhabitants, gentrified residents, immigrants, stakeholders and institutional actors, how is living at the Esquiline? Is it really a place of degradation and “central marginality”? What perceptions, emotions, feelings, and opinions do local inhabitants and actors associate with the district? What makes the Esquiline an attractive space to inhabit or to carry out economic, cultural or social activities? This contribution provides the results of a research, whose aim was to answer those research questions by using semi-structured interviews.
L'articolo propone una lettura critica della rappresentazione cartografica alla luce delle pr... more L'articolo propone una lettura critica della rappresentazione cartografica alla luce delle principali svolte attraversate dalla geografia, fino ai più recenti indirizzi volti ad integrare GIS, processi partecipativi e metodologie di ricerca qualitative
BETWEEN SAYING AND DOING. NATURE, HUMAN PRACTICES AND GEOGRAPHY. – Although the model of unlimite... more BETWEEN SAYING AND DOING. NATURE, HUMAN PRACTICES AND GEOGRAPHY. – Although the model of unlimited economic growth was a matter of debate at least fifty years ago, human behavior on Earth continues to be based on the priority given to the ephemeral individual needs of a minority of the global population, exacerbating social and territorial imbalances, environment and landscape degradation and cultural homologation. Such behavior, the result of Cartesian dichotomies, superseded in theory but not in practice, poses for geography some crucial epistemological questions, as it is a discipline founded on the relationship between nature and human beings, but then more and more oriented to focus attention on man’s actions, representations, and meta-narratives. By presenting some critical reflections both on development, progress and technology, and on how some relevant thinkers have envisioned our natural environment over time, the paper aims at offering some meta-theoretical reflections. A...
ViVre à quarante kilomètres de rome : Juxtaposition des modes d'habiter dans les campagnes romain... more ViVre à quarante kilomètres de rome : Juxtaposition des modes d'habiter dans les campagnes romaines résumé L'article analyse à travers une étude des modes d'habiter les campagnes romaines, la diversité des dynamiques de celles-ci. Il constate la juxtaposition de cinq grands modes d'habiter et analyse leur composition et leurs attentes environnementales. Il décrit les stratégies ou plutôt l'absence de stratégies foncière et urbanistique qui conduit au démantèlement des communautés villageoises en tant que lieu d'interconnaissance. Enfin, l'article replace les communes analysées dans une typologie des campagnes (agricoles, fragiles, périurbaines, vivantes). Il montre la grande variabilité spatiale de ces campagnes globalement périurbaines lorsque l'on affine l'échelle d'analyse. mots-clés Rome, Latium, Labico, mode d'habiter, campagnes périurbaines, échelle d'analyse
The flow of immigrants from the South of the world is the sign of spatial and social imbalances o... more The flow of immigrants from the South of the world is the sign of spatial and social imbalances of global dimensions, which involve the same most economically advanced regions. The Italian case offers the opportunity to understand the real extent of immigration phenomenon, as it has coincided with the spread of a meta-consumerist global culture, and because it retains the characteristics of a spontaneous phenomenon, still lacking, in many ways, of the filters of institutional regulation. After highlighting the connotations of the immigration phenomenon in Italy, this article offers a critical reading of glocal processes - to which immigration can be ascribed - in the wider debate about both the goals of environmental sustainability and the enhancement of cultural specificities, foreshadowing for Italy the opportunity to play a pioneering role in the redefinition of the global-local relationships.
L’identita territoriale come risorsa strategica per lo sviluppo rurale Le zone rurali costituisco... more L’identita territoriale come risorsa strategica per lo sviluppo rurale Le zone rurali costituiscono una presenza essenziale nell’UE: la specificita ecosistemica, paesaggistica e culturale che le connota costituisce un patrimonio di inestimabile valore, che rischia di essere perduto se non intervengono soluzioni in grado di invertire i trend di degrado sociale, economico e demografico che riguardano molte di esse. Le politiche di sviluppo rurale del periodo 2007-13 (Reg. 1698/2005) hanno attribuito particolare rilievo al cosiddetto “approccio Leader” maturato nella precedente fase di programmazione 2000-2006 ovvero alla “messa a punto ed attuazione di progetti altamente specifici da parte di partenariati locali, al fine di rispondere a particolari problemi locali”. In vista del prossimo periodo di programmazione (2014-2020) e opportuno fornire ai decisori un quadro della situazione generata dai suddetti interventi, al fine di superare le criticita emerse nelle precedenti fasi e di pr...
Representing Place and Territorial Identities in Europe
Place/territorial identity is a multifaceted research topic, which involves both the dimension of... more Place/territorial identity is a multifaceted research topic, which involves both the dimension of collective belonging and the politics of territorial planning and enhancement. Often identity is used as a mere tool of place/territorial promotion, without considering the social and political effects of such a promotion, in terms of mystification, spatial fetishism and the creation of place/territorial stereotypes. This contribution constitutes the introduction to the collective book titled “Representing Place and Territorial Identities in Europe: Discourses, Images, and Practices”, edited by the authors, whose aim was to discuss place/territorial identity representations in written and visual texts (official documents, scientific articles and books, newspapers, photographs, postcards, and other communication tools), related to well-known and lesser known European locations. Starting from an open, dynamic, relational, and participatory concept of the notion of “identity”, the contribution underlines the extreme variety of theoretical perspectives and research methods through which place/territorial identity representations can be examined. After highlighting some general theoretical and methodological reflections, comparing the Anglophone and Francophone-Italian geographic literature, the contribution first specifies the meanings attributed to the key-terms used in the book (place, territory, representation, identity), then it presents the sections and the chapters of the book, highlighting their objectives and research questions.
When local territorial identity is understood as closely linked to sustainable, participatory and... more When local territorial identity is understood as closely linked to sustainable, participatory and place-based development issues, it can become a dynamic, open, and plural social construction process, through which collectivities/groups choose the distinctive characteristics of the territory they inhabit, in order to develop shared views and common targets for policy implementation. In this sense, territorial identity is not to be 'unveiled' or 'discovered', but 'built' through a research-action focused on the opinions, attitudes, and expectations of local collectivities towards the territory they live or act in. As a research topic, local territorial identity is far from easy to deal with. Based on the key issues raised during the works of the national research group "Territorial Identities" of A.Ge.I. (Association of Italian Geographers), founded in 2008, the contribution aims at presenting some theoretical and methodological questions and pitfalls in studying territorial identities, proposing some possible answers.
In aperta critica con le retoriche del multiculturalismo, il contributo esamina le problematiche ... more In aperta critica con le retoriche del multiculturalismo, il contributo esamina le problematiche della convivenza interetnica negli spazi urbani sottoposti ad intensa presenza immigrata. In particolare, si esamina il caso di un ambito urbano di Roma situato nel quadrante orientale della città, ove la presenza immigrata ha profondamente trasformato gli spazi e le pratiche sociali di quartiere. Estremi bibliografici: T. BANINI, “Teano a Roma. Pratiche interetniche in una microcittà”, in G. CUSIMANO (a cura di), Spazi contesi spazi condivisi. Geografie dell’interculturalità, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 2010, pp. 101-124. ISBN 978-88-555-3078-1.
Il contributo esamina il fenomeno delle migrazioni internazionali contemporanee alla luce delle d... more Il contributo esamina il fenomeno delle migrazioni internazionali contemporanee alla luce delle disuguaglianze sociali ed economiche globali, ponendo in discussione la retorica del multiculturalismo, che si rivela in netta contrapposizione con gli obiettivi della sostenibilità ambientale, così come con la tutela e la valorizzazione delle specificità culturali. Estremi bibliografici: T. BANINI, “Immigrazione, sottosviluppo e multiculturalismo. Teorie e pratiche dell’etnocentrismo occidentale”, in G. CUSIMANO (a cura di), Spazi contesi spazi condivisi. Geografie dell’interculturalità, Bologna, Pàtron Editore, 2010, pp. 79-98. ISBN 978-88-555-3078-1
In the everyday language, as well as in the political and institutional one, territorial identity... more In the everyday language, as well as in the political and institutional one, territorial identity is an expression largely used, thanks to its strong evocative and performative power. Therefore, territorial identity is often treated as a taken-for-granted concept, or rather as ‘something’ that territories ‘have’ or ‘do not have’, for better or for worse. In these cases, there is the risk of falling into essentialist conceptions of territorial identity that ascribe some connotations to territories on the basis of reified discourses, stereotypes, habits or clichés, without considering some key questions (territorial identity according to whom? By what criteria? And for what purposes?). When local territorial identity is understood as closely linked to sustainable, participatory and place-based development issues, it can become a dynamic, open, and plural social construction process, through which collectivities/groups choose the distinctive characteristics of the territory they inhabi...
Il volume analizza i modi in cui l’uomo si discosta dalla natura, comportandosi come entità alien... more Il volume analizza i modi in cui l’uomo si discosta dalla natura, comportandosi come entità aliena rispetto ad essa, evidenziando le profonde ingiustizie sociali che accompagnano la questione ambientale e le responsabilità dei singoli individui nel procrastinare un modello comportamentale che è inevitabilmente destinato, senza finti allarmismi, a concludersi
Dopo aver introdotto il concetto di identità collettiva alla luce della crisi degli Stati-nazione... more Dopo aver introdotto il concetto di identità collettiva alla luce della crisi degli Stati-nazione e delle dinamiche locale-globale, il contributo si sofferma sul caso delle città capitali, nella loro duplice dimensione sociale e istituzionale, proponendo una chiave di lettura che le configura come laboratori di identità transcalari. Estremi bibliografici: T. Banini, "Identità e territorio nelle citta-capitali", in E. CAPUZZO (a cura di), La città capitale tra mito e realtà (XVIII-XXI secolo). Atti del Convegno Internazionale (Roma, 22-24 maggio 2003), Napoli, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane (Coll. "Quaderni di Clio"), 2003, pp. 169-193.
Quali vissuti migratori connotano abitanti ed operatori economici cinesi dell'Esquilino, quar... more Quali vissuti migratori connotano abitanti ed operatori economici cinesi dell'Esquilino, quartiere multietnico di Roma? Attraverso quali reti di relazione sono arrivati nel rione? Ritengono davvero di essere una comunità chiusa, poco incline al confronto interetnico, come emerge dagli studi pregressi? Ed eventualmente, quali ostacoli impediscono di interagire con gli italiani e/o con persone di altre nazionalità? Quali dinamiche si registrano tra le giovani generazioni cinesi? Questo contributo si propone l'obiettivo di dare risposta a tali interrogativi, dapprima realizzando una rassegna critica degli studi focalizzati sulla collettività cinese dell'Esquilino, quindi esponendo i risultati di una ricerca sul campo condotta per l'occasione, attraverso l'impiego di interviste in profondità a persone di provenienza cinese che vivono e operano nel rione.
Although the model of unlimited economic growth was a matter of debate at least fifty years ago, ... more Although the model of unlimited economic growth was a matter of debate at least fifty years ago, human behavior on Earth continues to be based on the priority given to the ephemeral individual needs of a minority of the global population, exacerbating social and territorial imbalances, environment and landscape degradation and cultural homologation. Such behavior, the result of Cartesian dichotomies, superseded in theory but not in practice, poses for geography some crucial epistemological questions, as it is a discipline founded on the relationship between nature and human beings, but then more and more oriented to focus attention on man's actions, representations, and meta-narratives. By presenting some critical reflections both on development, progress and technology, and on how some relevant thinkers have envisioned our natural environment over time, the paper aims at offering some meta-theoretical reflections. A return of geography to the centrality of nature - as a prelimi...
Producing and transmitting geographical knowledge in the digital age. Some considerations and que... more Producing and transmitting geographical knowledge in the digital age. Some considerations and questions Digital technologies are fully included among the factors that marked the recent history of mankind, like the advent of writing, printing and analog communication systems, but with an impact even more pervasive and generalized. There is more than a reason to reflect on the impact of this epochal transformation also within the academic disciplines, whose work focuses on the production and transmission of knowledge. Even more this reflection invests geography, as digital technologies contributed to revolutionize key concepts and usual practices of the discipline. After having outlined some cornerstones of the debate on digital technologies in geography, this paper – due to the limited editorial space at disposition – focuses only on a few modifications introduced by these technologies in the construction and dissemination of geographical knowledge, with the aim of proposing some ref...
This article introduces the contributions collected in the special issue no. 1/2018 of \u201cgeot... more This article introduces the contributions collected in the special issue no. 1/2018 of \u201cgeotema\u201d and presented at the 4th Study Day on Territorial Identities (Rome, September 22nd, 2017), promoted by the homonymous research group of the A.Ge.I. (Associations of Italian Geographers). The paper aims at discussing some basic questions on participatory processes, in order to pursue four objectives: 1) to recall some of the main issues that revolve around the topic of citizen participation in territorial decision-making processes; 2) to specify the ties between territorial identity (as intended by the research group) and participatory processes; 3) to highlight the questions raised by the contributions presented at the study day; 4) to propose an action for the professionalization of geographical skills in participation, with special reference to the Italian context
The Esquiline district of Rome has gone through important changes over the last decades, due to t... more The Esquiline district of Rome has gone through important changes over the last decades, due to the strong presence of immigrants, mainly from China and Bangladesh, whose shops and performative ethnicity have radically modified both the place experience and the relational tissue of this central area of the city, adjacent to the Termini railway station. Newspapers, TV programs and a number of websites depict the Esquiline as a symbol of urban and social decay, often associated with immigrants. Scientific research seems to support this rhetoric of decay, when speaking of the Esquiline as an example of how marginality, in the time of globalization, can no longer be ascribed to the centre-periphery pattern, but to different, contingent, and contextual forms. But according to historical inhabitants, gentrified residents, immigrants, stakeholders and institutional actors, how is living at the Esquiline? Is it really a place of degradation and “central marginality”? What perceptions, emotions, feelings, and opinions do local inhabitants and actors associate with the district? What makes the Esquiline an attractive space to inhabit or to carry out economic, cultural or social activities? This contribution provides the results of a research, whose aim was to answer those research questions by using semi-structured interviews.
L'articolo propone una lettura critica della rappresentazione cartografica alla luce delle pr... more L'articolo propone una lettura critica della rappresentazione cartografica alla luce delle principali svolte attraversate dalla geografia, fino ai più recenti indirizzi volti ad integrare GIS, processi partecipativi e metodologie di ricerca qualitative
BETWEEN SAYING AND DOING. NATURE, HUMAN PRACTICES AND GEOGRAPHY. – Although the model of unlimite... more BETWEEN SAYING AND DOING. NATURE, HUMAN PRACTICES AND GEOGRAPHY. – Although the model of unlimited economic growth was a matter of debate at least fifty years ago, human behavior on Earth continues to be based on the priority given to the ephemeral individual needs of a minority of the global population, exacerbating social and territorial imbalances, environment and landscape degradation and cultural homologation. Such behavior, the result of Cartesian dichotomies, superseded in theory but not in practice, poses for geography some crucial epistemological questions, as it is a discipline founded on the relationship between nature and human beings, but then more and more oriented to focus attention on man’s actions, representations, and meta-narratives. By presenting some critical reflections both on development, progress and technology, and on how some relevant thinkers have envisioned our natural environment over time, the paper aims at offering some meta-theoretical reflections. A...
ViVre à quarante kilomètres de rome : Juxtaposition des modes d'habiter dans les campagnes romain... more ViVre à quarante kilomètres de rome : Juxtaposition des modes d'habiter dans les campagnes romaines résumé L'article analyse à travers une étude des modes d'habiter les campagnes romaines, la diversité des dynamiques de celles-ci. Il constate la juxtaposition de cinq grands modes d'habiter et analyse leur composition et leurs attentes environnementales. Il décrit les stratégies ou plutôt l'absence de stratégies foncière et urbanistique qui conduit au démantèlement des communautés villageoises en tant que lieu d'interconnaissance. Enfin, l'article replace les communes analysées dans une typologie des campagnes (agricoles, fragiles, périurbaines, vivantes). Il montre la grande variabilité spatiale de ces campagnes globalement périurbaines lorsque l'on affine l'échelle d'analyse. mots-clés Rome, Latium, Labico, mode d'habiter, campagnes périurbaines, échelle d'analyse
The flow of immigrants from the South of the world is the sign of spatial and social imbalances o... more The flow of immigrants from the South of the world is the sign of spatial and social imbalances of global dimensions, which involve the same most economically advanced regions. The Italian case offers the opportunity to understand the real extent of immigration phenomenon, as it has coincided with the spread of a meta-consumerist global culture, and because it retains the characteristics of a spontaneous phenomenon, still lacking, in many ways, of the filters of institutional regulation. After highlighting the connotations of the immigration phenomenon in Italy, this article offers a critical reading of glocal processes - to which immigration can be ascribed - in the wider debate about both the goals of environmental sustainability and the enhancement of cultural specificities, foreshadowing for Italy the opportunity to play a pioneering role in the redefinition of the global-local relationships.
L’identita territoriale come risorsa strategica per lo sviluppo rurale Le zone rurali costituisco... more L’identita territoriale come risorsa strategica per lo sviluppo rurale Le zone rurali costituiscono una presenza essenziale nell’UE: la specificita ecosistemica, paesaggistica e culturale che le connota costituisce un patrimonio di inestimabile valore, che rischia di essere perduto se non intervengono soluzioni in grado di invertire i trend di degrado sociale, economico e demografico che riguardano molte di esse. Le politiche di sviluppo rurale del periodo 2007-13 (Reg. 1698/2005) hanno attribuito particolare rilievo al cosiddetto “approccio Leader” maturato nella precedente fase di programmazione 2000-2006 ovvero alla “messa a punto ed attuazione di progetti altamente specifici da parte di partenariati locali, al fine di rispondere a particolari problemi locali”. In vista del prossimo periodo di programmazione (2014-2020) e opportuno fornire ai decisori un quadro della situazione generata dai suddetti interventi, al fine di superare le criticita emerse nelle precedenti fasi e di pr...
Representing Place and Territorial Identities in Europe
Place/territorial identity is a multifaceted research topic, which involves both the dimension of... more Place/territorial identity is a multifaceted research topic, which involves both the dimension of collective belonging and the politics of territorial planning and enhancement. Often identity is used as a mere tool of place/territorial promotion, without considering the social and political effects of such a promotion, in terms of mystification, spatial fetishism and the creation of place/territorial stereotypes. This contribution constitutes the introduction to the collective book titled “Representing Place and Territorial Identities in Europe: Discourses, Images, and Practices”, edited by the authors, whose aim was to discuss place/territorial identity representations in written and visual texts (official documents, scientific articles and books, newspapers, photographs, postcards, and other communication tools), related to well-known and lesser known European locations. Starting from an open, dynamic, relational, and participatory concept of the notion of “identity”, the contribution underlines the extreme variety of theoretical perspectives and research methods through which place/territorial identity representations can be examined. After highlighting some general theoretical and methodological reflections, comparing the Anglophone and Francophone-Italian geographic literature, the contribution first specifies the meanings attributed to the key-terms used in the book (place, territory, representation, identity), then it presents the sections and the chapters of the book, highlighting their objectives and research questions.
When local territorial identity is understood as closely linked to sustainable, participatory and... more When local territorial identity is understood as closely linked to sustainable, participatory and place-based development issues, it can become a dynamic, open, and plural social construction process, through which collectivities/groups choose the distinctive characteristics of the territory they inhabit, in order to develop shared views and common targets for policy implementation. In this sense, territorial identity is not to be 'unveiled' or 'discovered', but 'built' through a research-action focused on the opinions, attitudes, and expectations of local collectivities towards the territory they live or act in. As a research topic, local territorial identity is far from easy to deal with. Based on the key issues raised during the works of the national research group "Territorial Identities" of A.Ge.I. (Association of Italian Geographers), founded in 2008, the contribution aims at presenting some theoretical and methodological questions and pitfalls in studying territorial identities, proposing some possible answers.
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