Politiche di sviluppo alla prova: geografie della crisi

The financial, economic and sanitary crisis that Europe has been enduring since 2008 are designing a new European geography of development and territorial systems. These crises have accentuated the gap between European regions, strengthening the idea of an economic space marked by center-periphery relations. The spread of a sovereign and anti-European spirit, Brexit, the tendency to centralize governance functions and resources, the further economic decline of some already weak areas: the emergence of these fragmenting trends and the growing economic gap between communities raise the question of whether the European Union’s cohesion policies are actually failing the objectives of equity and integration rather than bridging the development gap between regions. The time of local development, perhaps at its epilogue, is experiencing a critical phase also due to the transfer of the decision focal point from the local level to other spatial levels of governance. The further weakening of the marginal territories requires the identification of new development objectives and the adoption of new local strategies that the European multilevel governance seems unable to ensure. The topic also affects the tourism sector, that is considered by the territories, especially if «peripheral», one of the most important development drivers of the local economy.