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Proximity Services As Common Assets. A New Perspective for the Mountains

Federica Corrado et Gemma Santoro
Référence(s) :

Luigi Lorenzetti, Roberto Leggero (a cura di), 2024.– I servizi di prossimità come beni comuni. Una nuova prospettiva per la montagna, Donzelli Editore.

Cet article est une traduction de :
I servizi di prossimità come beni comuni. Una nuova prospettiva per la montagna [it]

Texte intégral

1The theme of marginality, at the centre of a part of the scientific debate, especially following the recent post-pandemic events, has marked a turnaround regarding those aspects specific to mountain areas that have always been read as signs of underdevelopment and closure. So, at this moment in time, what are the things that lead to an area being recognised as marginal? This question is at the centre of the publication I servizi di prossimità come beni comuni. Una nuova prospettiva della montagna (Proximity services as common assets. A new perspective for the mountains) in which scholars of various subjects examine and interpret the theme of marginality in relation to a multiplicity of issues related to proximity services, understood as social, health, cultural and commercial services, and as common goods that the community takes care of.

2In the first part, Percorsi, reti e sistemi di distribuzione: la prospettiva storica (Routes, networks and distribution systems: a historical perspective), the authors describe how spatial and economic relations have shaped the mountain life and the local economy from the 18th century to the present day. As it emerges in the book, mountain systems have always been configured as combinations of tangible and intangible facts capable of working organically for the sustenance of a common territory. Italian and European policies promoted in the 1980s, however, led to the concentration of services in circumscribed urban areas, favouring an idea of strictly physical-geographical proximity, relating it to the proximity or distance from cities and assigning the latter a role of exclusive and absolute centrality. In this logic and in the face of more recent territorial dynamics which have shown a growing shift towards the mountains, it has become necessary to rethink the concept of proximity services in such a way as to give them a value that goes beyond the simple point of interest or node in a network, translating, instead, into the definition of multifunctional places for the community. In other words, the welfare system is called upon to mend the rifts that have arisen as a result of past territorial policies, focusing on the current needs and desires of mountain populations in order to trigger regenerative processes starting from the characteristics and resources of the territory. Characteristics that have been historically crystallised, as shown in the contribution by Augusto Ciuffetti and Giorgio Monestarolo, to be re-interpreted with regard to the needs of the local community.

3In the second part, I servizi di prossimità come beni comuni (Proximity services as common assets), it is the cooperative action of the community that is the focus of reflection. Referring this point of view the action is considered essential to the activation of territorial regeneration processes, with this activation taking place on horizontal communities. The communities have a key role to play within this logic, as proven by the numerous initiatives based on self-management, which have made it possible in demographically depressed areas to generate resilience dynamics within the local system. These experiments have been encouraged and accompanied by architectural projects aimed at restoring dignity to the premises of the welfare system in territories where formal and functional considerations have been sidelined for years.

4Several experiences of this kind are reported in the book, such as mutual and cooperative organisations in Tyrol (Andrea Leonardi), collective property and common assets in Comelico (Viviana Ferrario), and commoning in Trentino within the Montagne Vitali project (Elisa Ravazzoli, Cristina Dalla Torre, Federica Maino).

5In the third part, Architettura, progetto e servizi di prossimità, (Architecture, project and proximity services) addresses the matter of proximity services and welfare. The authors offer numerous examples of experiences in which new architecture for public use has been the driving force behind territorial regeneration and forms of new settlement. The experiences reported have a common design principle, this being to put down roots in the territory, repurposing existing buildings and spaces linked to history, traditions and local customs, and so converting public space into the lever for a social rebirth.

6Proximity services take on tangible significance, renewed by the material strength of their volumes and the space they occupy. The new architectures destined to them are functional to the intended purpose, bringing value and vitality to the area. It also goes hand in hand with a rethinking of the concept of service in the traditional sense: innovative and adaptive forms of welfare have sprung up in areas characterised by strong depopulation, with several services headed by a single structure and a single management, in such a way as to guarantee service despite a shortage of manpower and a lack of demand. This is also facilitated by the use of telecommunications, thanks to which it is sometimes possible to overcome the problem of distance, reducing the perception of marginality. The account written by Antonio De Rossi and Laura Mascino and that of Mauro Marinelli are part of this logic, and they present some design experiments carried out on the ground as examples of community infrastructure.

7Lastly, in the fourth and final part, Esperienze e testimonianze (Experiences and Testimonies), it is made clear that responsibility for the territorial management of services is often entrusted to the communities and/or private organisations. An idea of entrusting the management of “internal areas” to others seems to emerge, increasing a perception of abandonment on the part of communities towards the subjects that govern them and consequently leading to a denial of the value of places and the individuals that inhabit them.

8As it emerges in the book, regardless of the profit they generate, the presence of services and their maintenance and efficiency represents a form of care and support for mountain communities. The poor attention paid to territories considered marginal constitutes the first form of abandonment, even before depopulation. Marginality results as much from the distance from services as from the lack of efforts to improve the conditions of these communities, as Annibale Salsa states so effectively in his contribution.

9In conclusion, the book offers an in-depth analysis of the social and economic importance of services within mountain territories, and how they can and should be interpreted as real assets capable of bringing dignity and value to communities that are too often politically neglected.

10The contribution of the different authors put on evidence that, despite the numerous good practices, it is not possible to think of these territories as islands, as they too are accountable to a broader economic and legislative system, by which, however, they often find themselves oppressed.

11The process of regeneration and resilience, even if strongly linked to the local capacity needs a structural support from the State and regional institutions, called upon to plan policies aimed at recognising marginal areas and incorporating them into the broader economic and social context, is required. It is only as a result of coordinated action between the public and private sectors, and a more tangible acknowledgement of the dignity of marginal territories, that it will be possible to prevent abandonment and depopulation from prevailing, and transform mountains into a laboratory of sustainability and social innovation instead.

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Référence électronique

Federica Corrado et Gemma Santoro, « Proximity Services As Common Assets. A New Perspective for the Mountains »Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine [En ligne], Notes de lecture, mis en ligne le 23 janvier 2025, consulté le 12 février 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rga/13958 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/13566

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Auteurs

Federica Corrado

Politecnico di Torino

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Gemma Santoro

Politecnico di Torino

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