New rur-urban alliances: Experiments of social innovation in Terre Sicane Inland Area in Sicily

Abstract

"Rural" and "Urban" are not terms of a dichotomic opposition but they become elements of a necessary alliance that enfold an actualized view of the territory development and the transformation of rural economies and communities. New types of rural-urban interaction, recovering the value of a territorial vision, can put in value, in original forms, creative, innovative potential of new relations between urban and rural areas. In this framework, the Italian national strategy named "Strategia Nazionale Aree Interne" (SNAI) represents an existing and emerging governance approach looking at official authorities but also at informal governance groups to overcome the classic opposition between rural and urban. The Sicilian case study of Terre Sicane, in particular, can be considered a starting point to work on the idea that "rural" is a critical element to understand the contemporary and new sustainable life styles as possibility of change.