Keywords

1 Introduction

For several years, the theme of inner areas has been at the center of the debate about the strategies of the European Community for sustainable development. These areas generally devoted to agriculture, widespread in most of the European territory, have been suffering from a depopulation process for many years in favor of urban areas, risking being profoundly marginalized due to the lack of essential services and job opportunities. The strategies of the revitalization of the abandoned areas, which have traditionally ensured the vitality consolidating the flows of wealth coming from the earth in the city forms (Giuffrida et al. 2021), must now be rethought in light of a radical modification of the development models and lifestyles subordinated to the well-being and inhabitant’s essential needs.

To this end, the European Commission has launched a study about “shrinking and lonely places” and how these areas can turn their condition into an opportunity (JRC European Commission 2021). For the lonely places characterized by a high level of depopulation and aging, as well as a high level of loss of employment, the European Commission suggests lines of development oriented to: the silver economy (the service sector addressed to over 65); the digital transition; the enhancement of the territory, and the integration of young people and women into the labor market.

These objectives also coincide with a focus on circular development models to improve the life cycle of goods/products/services and in particular the built environment (Foster 2020). The available large building stock due to depopulation and abandonment offers environmental opportunities thanks to incorporated energies and material. Furthermore, the analysis of the interactions between natural and human systems at local and regional scales seems more efficient in site-specific sustainability, through a multi-scale approach (Wilbanks 2015). Therefore, after analyzing the causes of depopulation, as well as European good practices recognized by international awards, this paper proposes a trans-disciplinary methodological approach as a decision support tool for the enhancement of inner areas.

2 Depopulation and Abandonment

The World’s population has always met chaotic growth rates, never uniform (Vallin 2002); however, the balance between survival and reproduction begins to falter during the eighteenth century, passing from the high levels of birth and death rates of the traditional demographic regime to low levels of the modern period. From the second half of the eighteenth century, advances in agriculture, the containment of infectious diseases, and industrial and educational development led to a strong demographic growth that generated strong migration flows and colonial expansions, until the early 20s of the twentieth century when population growth slowed down to zero in the years of the Second World War. The birth rate rise again between the post-war period and the 1960s, then it reached the so-called growth 0, which is a downward balance between the born and the dead. This profound modification of the demographic mechanisms was accompanied by the rise of industrial and urban societies, contributing both to the social changes linked to the new condition of women and to the modification of the structure of families, thus favoring new dynamics and structures of the population.

Today, however, the inner areas suffer from both a profound “demographic malaise” accompanied by an aging population and low birth rate, economic, social, cultural, and psychological malaise, in particular due to the shortage or lack of work that determines the abandonment and the progressive depopulation of towns up to the risk of disappearance (Golini et al. 2020).

Eurostat’s long-term population projections show the EU-27 population increasing from 447 million in 2019, peaking at 449 million in 2026. Inhabitants will gradually decline to 441 million in 2050 and 416 million in 2100 (Eurostat 2019), in different ways in different territories.

In the last decades, the EU funded projects and research to investigate the processes and dynamics of depopulation and abandonment of rural and inner areas, to define more adequate strategies and tackle the resulting environmental, economic, and social consequences. Some studies show that depopulation is not a linear process, but rather influenced by several interconnected factors, dependent on aging, population loss, and urban agglomeration effects. Most European countries have experienced a so-called urban–rural polarization due to the lower population growth in rural areas compared to urban areas where the population is more concentrated (ESPON 2020).

In some Central and Eastern European countries, like Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, the demographic decline in rural areas is offset by migration from urban areas. In the Western Balkans and post-socialist countries, the demographic decline in rural areas has been caused by distance from socioeconomic hubs or services, geomorphology and soil conditions, and climate. In southern Europe, the depopulation phenomena have increased around the 1950s, especially in the rural areas with the labor loss from the primary sector in favor of the industrial sector located near the more densely urbanized areas. The geographical or economic circumstances such as increased hydrogeological vulnerability, the globalization of markets and loss of competitiveness of production capacity, the inadequate governance and supporting infrastructures/services, the strong economic polarity of coastal areas especially in Mediterranean areas are other factors determining the depopulation phenomena. These factors were also relevant in parts of eastern regions of Germany, or eastern mountainous areas of Austria and in northwestern Europe, Scotland, Ireland, and France.

In Italy, the inner areas cover about three-fifths of the territory, and they are characterized by a low settlement density and peripheral municipalities of high hills or mountains, where the economy is traditionally based on agriculture, the depopulation has resulted in severe environmental imbalances. However, these areas are rich in environmental and cultural resources on which a possible sustainable regeneration is based through the construction of networks of goods, activities, services, and infrastructures.

Depopulation makes clear the need to interpret the expectations and hopes of local communities, along with the residual and potential value of places—economic, historical, and cultural—to define a new framework of meanings and functions in an entirely new dimension of sustainability, in which resources regain value and relational meaning.

3 Research and Good Practices

Since the mid-2000s, the research has been funded in Europe to investigate the phenomena of demographic shrinkage, policies, and governance methods of the territories. The study, “Shrinking Regions: a Paradigm Shift in Demography and Territorial Development” (2008) produced by a team of universities at the request of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development, emphasizes the need to tackle the demographic decline according to a multi-scale approach. The exchange of multidisciplinary scientific knowledge to define more effective regeneration strategies in the cities with demographic decline is the main idea of the project “Cities Regrowing Smaller—Fostering Knowledge on Regeneration Strategies in Shrinking Cities across Europe” (2008–2013). The project “Shrink Smart—Governance of Shrinkage within a European Context” (2009–2012), identifies and analyzes the main challenges caused by shrinkage for urban and regional development and defines the possible sustainable and transferable policy recommendations with practitioners and policymakers. Other research activities investigate the recurring factors to tackle the depopulation, as labor market; service provision, and housing issues in the North Sea Region (DC NOISE, 2008–2013); education and lifelong learning, health care and social services as well as tradition and innovative economy (DART, 2009–2012); transnational strategies in the field of public infrastructure and services (ADAPT2DC, 2011–2014). In addition, the Shrinking Cities research network (SCiRN) has advanced the concept of adaptation (the “Cities Regrowing Smaller” project) and Hollander and Németh (2011) speak of “smart decline,” approaches consistent with current visions of circularity and enhancement of existing resources-economic, social, cultural. Demographic contraction offers new opportunities for public services and governance to become modern and innovative, place-based and pro-active (Haase et al. 2016), and inland areas could grow smaller and greener again, better suited to the needs of inhabitants.

To discretize the variety of possible scales and approaches, several good practices have been analyzed from which to select possible recurring factors and parameters on which to base a methodological proposal to support the decisions to be adopted in the regeneration and enhancement processes of depopulated areas.

The premise of each good practice is the preliminary research for the evident and potential values of the territories and their subsequent systemization according to local needs. The policies based on sustainable inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral cooperation, and the financial instruments require the use of EU funds for development and territorial cohesion, while the aim is to better understand and enhance the resources and diversities of non-homogeneous regions by encouraging the interchange of experiences. The analysis of good practices (Fig. 68.1) highlighted some recurring key issues, which were taken as a base to develop the methodological proposal to support decisions. This cannot be separated from a local-based approach, the integration of context-aware and expert knowledge, to define new development guidelines oriented to environmental, social, and economic sustainability combined with local opportunities and resources.

Fig. 68.1
A table of 4 columns and 9 rows. It lists the partners, description, and key issues of the good practises, such as Ruritage, leader transnational culture, Shannon arts development, INTESI Alpine space project, LAVROR O MAR, Regionale, Arctic art summit, third places, and my grandfather's house.

Good practices and key issues

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This, furthermore, involves the regeneration of settlement systems, infrastructures, and economic organizations as well as the improvement of territorial cohesion policies to cope depopulation (Humer 2018) and improve the quality of life of residents.

4 A Methodological Approach for Smart Shrinking and Enhancement of Environment Built in Inner Areas in Sardinia

Sardinia has always been sparsely populated and rich in large uncultivated lands (Day 1973). The demographic growth has always followed innovations: in the administrative, education, health system, and in the mining and manufacturing industry in the mid-nineteenth century, in all production sectors with the 1962 Rebirth Plan. The fragility of the regional economy and territorial fragmentation (377 municipalities of which 31 are at risk of disappearing) are today the main cause of depopulation. The investments in the redevelopment of historic centers and the improvement of municipal solid waste management at the end of the 1990s did not strengthen the economic-productive system. Since the 2000s, the Regional Development Plans (PSR) have aimed at supporting the recovery of inner areas by strengthening agricultural production activities, public transport, viability, and basic services. The implementation of these plans was based on the division of the territory into four zones: urban poles and rural areas (urbanized, significantly or predominantly rural), distinguished in blue and orange based on population density (Fig. 68.2). However, by superimposing the conditions of demographic malaise on rural areas, a less homogeneous situation emerges, resolved by the subsequent subdivision into Optimal Territorial Areas (ATO) and by Local Actions Groups (GAL), supra-municipal territorial groupings with legal form, capable of reflecting the historical-identity, geographical, and demographics of the territory.

Fig. 68.2
Three geographical maps of Sardinia, an Italian island. Each has several partitions marked with color gradients to present a distribution. The legends are in a foreign language. The third map presents the provinces of Sardinia.

a State of demographic malaise (Stato di malessere demografico, SMD); b superimposed SMD/PSR territorialization; c local action groups (Gruppi di Azione Locale, GAL), LEADER areas, various sources Sardinia Region

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The current territorial support and enhancement interventions are based on the Regional Strategy for Inner Areas (SRAI), which aims to increase the offer of public services, the employment levels and the enhancement of territorial capital in line with Europe 2020 and the SNAI. The effectiveness of this approach requires the systematization of local resources—physical, economic, and social—to be enhanced and reconstituted in aggregative and settlement forms on which economic ethics governs over the economic-estimative evaluation. On the other hand, abandoned settlements and buildings incorporate energy and materials, consumed resources (often primary), contributing to the depletion of the natural environment (Ecorys 2014). This is the intersection between the tools of the technological project, which investigates functional patterns and performance clusters to maximize efficiency and effectiveness (in particular environmental), and the economic-estimative discipline (in particular the evaluation of the possible outcomes of the project).

The analysis of good practices made it possible to identify key issues reorganized according to the operational peculiarities of the Sardinia region, articulated in a methodological proposal useful for defining enhancement strategies for areas in the process of depopulation (Fig. 68.3). Territorial development strategies should be based on a systemic and multi-scale interpretation of tangible and intangible factors. Such analysis aims to provide a picture of the multiple and sometimes competing needs of settled communities and ongoing transformation dynamics.

Fig. 68.3
A process flow of 5 stages. The settlement system is an input to knowledge, asset analysis, state of maintenance, activities, characteristics, performance, performance-based analysis with evaluation, and enhancement project.

Flow chart of the methodological approach

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The methodology involves a systemic approach to the urban settlement scale, to compare and evaluate alternative intervention scenarios. The first phase concerns the knowledge and analysis of the settlement system, divided into physical, economic, and social sub-systems (knowledge), through specific investigation methods for the observed systems (assets analysis). The expected result is both the definition of the potential of the built heritage, expressed in terms of residual performance (environmental and technological) and the settlement needs of the area based on the dynamics of socioeconomic transformation (settlement needs). The analysis of the economic and production system (using the methodology life cycle cost and revenues) defines both the economic value of the built heritage and the economic operators of the area; finally, the analysis of the social system makes it possible to identify the values and norms shared by the local community (multicriteria analysis).

In the second phase, the settlement and socioeconomic needs (performance-based analysis) are identified according to the consistency of the available built heritage, so the method allows to choose the type of intervention from the comparison of project alternatives on a municipal scale, based on multiple factors and available economic and technological parameters. Subsequently, through an LCA based approach, to limit the environmental impacts related to the intervention, the design alternative derives from the comparison between technological requirements associated with the new settlement needs and residual performance of the built heritage. Finally, through Multicriteria Decision Aids, among the possible alternatives, only those associated with limited transformations of the physical system will be compared, thus with a lower associated environmental impact. Physically, the strategy involves alternatives such as the reuse and requalification of abandoned buildings; the requalification and maintenance of those whose intended use is confirmed; or the eventual demolition and recovery of the incorporated materials in an urban mining perspective (Koutamanis et al. 2018). In this scenario, the evaluation defines the individual preference functions (axiological profiles) and the contents of social value (ethical profile) through which the best strategy among those internally coherent on a planning (technological) level is defined by progressive adaptation between constraints and opportunities, thus maximizing the cost-effectiveness and fairness of the revitalization process.

5 Validation of the Developed Methodology

The developed methodology is currently being validated on a network of inland Sardinian minor cities. In the present paper an analysis implemented in Samugheo, an urban center of late medieval origin in the province of Oristano, populated by just over 3000 inhabitants, is outlined. In the case of Samugheo, action strategies based on the introduction of productive activities that benefit from the local cultural and productive tradition and rely on the use of digital technologies have been defined. The study led to the setting of new functions for municipally owned buildings, which provide the role of hubs for services targeting residents and visitors and house collective activities. Furthermore, a network of abandoned buildings available to accommodate productive activities and residences has been identified (Fig. 68.4).

Fig. 68.4
A 2 D plan of Samugheo, a Sardinia region is divided into several segments. A page at the bottom has a photo of a ruined and well-preserved building. A tree network of 738 buildings with used, abandoned, and occasionally used categories is at the mid-bottom.

Samugheo (Oristano). Mapping the state of preservation of buildings in the city center

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The choice of building reuse has given priority to buildings that still maintain their original architectural characters, helping to preserve local identity through conservation, performance improvement, and maintenance actions. The rehabilitation of such buildings is performed by largely reusing materials and components that can no longer be available on the market, with a process of urban mining involving buildings that are in a very advanced state of decay or ruins, which are not considered to be worth (for cultural reasons) and cost-effective (for market reasons) to preserve.

6 Conclusions

The variety and complexity of the dynamics at the base of the depopulation and progressive abandonment of inner areas requires integrated, multi-scale interventions, capable of putting values and resources into a system, to be rediscovered, still incorporated in these territories. The definition of new forms of socioeconomic development; new ways of living; and unprecedented levels of well-being for the resident communities, together with the maintenance/strengthening of basic and infrastructural services, are essential objectives to tackle depopulation or encourage repopulation. The proposed methodology represents a decision support tool that systematizes the set of values—environmental, economic, social, and cultural—through the enhancement of the built heritage as an essential premise for sustainability, to define new design approaches toward a smart shrinking. The incremental (relative to factors and parameters to be considered) and multi-scale (building-settlement-territory) character of the methodology requires further adaptations and optimizations to be also adequate for other territorial realities while maintaining its validity.