Search Results (90)

The commercialization of Km 0 products has emerged as a strategic approach to strengthening rural economies, promoting sustainability, and countering depopulation in European territories. This study examines the motivations and perceptions of three key stakeholder groups—farmers, restaurant businesses, and public officials—regarding rural permanence and the role of Km 0 commercialization. Based on original survey data collected in Spain (2024), the research adopts a comparative perspective to identify convergences and divergences across these actors. Results show that farmers perceive Km 0 as vital for the survival of family farms and the preservation of territorial identity, while restaurants view it as a competitive advantage to ensure freshness and authenticity in gastronomy. Public officials frame Km 0 as a governance tool for rural revitalization and demographic stabilization. Despite these different orientations, all groups converge on valuing quality of life, contact with nature, and sustainability. Structural constraints such as inadequate infrastructure, limited digital connectivity, and generational renewal remain significant barriers across contexts. Situating these findings within the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the agroecological transition framework, this article suggests that Km 0 commercialization holds potential as an instrument for sustainability, territorial resilience, and food sovereignty in contemporary rural Europe, while acknowledging that the exploratory nature of this study calls for caution in extrapolating these findings beyond the specific contexts examined. Full article

Depopulation constitutes a fundamental challenge for territorial governance, particularly within the framework of sustainable development; however, its representation in local strategic documents remains insufficiently explored. This study aims to identify and compare strategic responses to depopulation across two contrasting Polish regions—Dolnośląskie Voivodeship and Podlaskie Voivodeship—and three governance levels: regional, county, and municipal. An abductive mixed-methods approach was applied, combining discourse analysis with latent semantic analysis (LDA), and principal component analysis (PCA). The findings reveal a clear dominance of the pro-growth paradigm, while the adaptive approach associated with managed shrinkage remains marginal. Regional differences are primarily observed in problem framing—functional in Dolnośląskie and demographic in Podlaskie—but these distinctions do not significantly affect the types of policy responses. Structural instruments, particularly those related to consolidation, prevail, whereas functional and competency-based measures are less prominent. The results suggest the existence of a standardized model of strategic response to depopulation across regions and governance levels. This indicates limited diversification of policy approaches and highlights the need to more fully integrate adaptive strategies into territorial policy, especially in the context of long-term demographic change. Full article

Depopulation and urban–rural population redistribution are challenges that reshape settlement patterns, landscapes, and local economies in many regions, from Europe to China and from Japan to North America. This study examines spatial and demographic transformations in the Baltic States (Europe), using Lithuania as a detailed case study. The analysis is based on high-resolution GIS population data derived from official population registers and linked to georeferenced settlement polygons for the years 2011 and 2021, combined with a linear projection of population change to 2026 (five-year period). The results reveal that population decline, which appears modest at the aggregated statistical level (approximately −1.1% to −1.5% per year), is territorially concentrated and reaches 45–48% in the most affected areas, which can only be identified through fine-scale spatial analysis. The most pronounced decline (−46%) is observed in the population of detached rural dwellings between 2011 and 2021, with trend-based estimation indicating that vacant rural houses may exceed 50% by 2026. At the same time, peri-urban zones surrounding the largest cities show clear population growth, largely driven by internal migration from ageing urban districts, smaller towns, and peripheral rural areas, compensating aggregated values and masking underlying processes. The findings reveal a dual process of rural shrinkage and suburban expansion, increasing pressures on territorial cohesion, service provision, infrastructure planning, and the preservation of cultural landscapes. The application of high-resolution spatial data allows the detection of localized demographic processes that remain insufficiently captured in conventional municipality-level statistics and that have rarely been analyzed at this level of spatial detail. Based on these results, this study emphasizes policy approaches such as adaptive rural regeneration and managed shrinkage. Although the empirical analysis is focused on Lithuania, the identified trends are relevant to many shrinking regions worldwide and may be reproduced using local population register data in other countries to support evidence-based regional planning. Full article

Depopulation and structural demographic challenges affect social and territorial cohesion in Europe, a phenomenon that is particularly evident in rural municipalities in Spain, where the loss of the working-age population and the concentration of older adults threaten sustainability. This study analyzes the case of Pescueza (Cáceres, Spain) using a mixed-methods design that combines longitudinal demographic analysis (2000–2024) with a qualitative evaluation of the community project “Quédate con nosotr@s,” which focuses on comprehensive care and intergenerational participation. The results are critical regarding the demographic structure, with an aging index of 500% and dependency levels three times higher than the national average, although a slight demographic recovery linked to local initiatives is observed. This project has positive effects on social cohesion, community capital, and resilience in the face of demographic challenges, establishing itself as a replicable model for rural micro-territories. The study proposes a strategic framework based on the SWOT-CAME matrix and social sustainability indicators, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and European territorial cohesion policies. It concludes that social innovation, collaborative governance, and multilevel cooperation are key elements for addressing rural aging, and recommends public policies aimed at stable funding, inclusive digitalization, attracting young people, specialized training, and the creation of adapted infrastructure. Full article

Small settlements in Serbia are confronted with long-term processes of depopulation, ageing, and migration, characterised by pronounced spatial and structural heterogeneity. This raises questions about the effectiveness of uniform development policies and underscores the need for a differentiated, place-based approach. The aim of this paper is to identify the demographic heterogeneity of small settlements (with fewer than 100 inhabitants) and to analyse its implications for decentralised territorial development. The research is based on the analysis of 1302 settlements in Serbia, using 26 demographic, socio-economic, and geographical indicators. The methodological framework is based on principal component analysis and cluster analysis, complemented by nonparametric tests and logistic regression. The results indicate pronounced population ageing, low labour potential, and a clear spatial polarisation between accessible and peripheral settlements. Four clearly differentiated types of small settlements are identified. It is concluded that demographic heterogeneity represents a key determinant of development capacity, indicating the need for territorially sensitive and differentiated development policies. In this context, decentralisation and tailored development models may contribute to the revitalisation and long-term sustainability of rural areas. Full article

Rural territories continue to face persistent structural challenges related to depopulation, limited economic diversification, and unequal access to specialized knowledge. Although scientific research and applied expertise are widely recognized as critical resources for addressing these challenges, their effective transmission to local actors remains fragmented. In recent years, digital platforms have emerged as potential mechanisms to bridge this gap; however, their role within rural development frameworks remains conceptually underdeveloped. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for knowledge transmission platforms oriented towards rural development, integrating scientific research, applied analysis, and structured dissemination within a unified operational architecture. Drawing on a structured review of the literature on rural development, knowledge transfer, and digital platforms, the framework identifies key functional dimensions and design principles that shape platform-based knowledge intermediation. The framework is illustrated through a qualitative case study of CreandoTuProvincia, a Spanish platform focused on territorial analysis and rural knowledge transmission. The findings highlight the relevance of hybrid platforms that combine scientific rigour, accessibility, and territorial embeddedness, offering a scalable model for strengthening evidence-informed rural development strategies. By conceptualizing platforms as structured knowledge intermediaries, this study contributes to the emerging literature on knowledge-based rural development and provides practical insights for policymakers, researchers, and platform designers. Full article

Historical small towns (HSTs) embody irreplaceable cultural heritage and territorial identity, facing depopulation, economic marginalization, and infrastructure decay. Improving their liveability and attractiveness is essential to reverse these trends and boost sustainable development. In this context, HSTs are potential drivers of circular and sustainable socio-technical systems, where the circular economy (CE) offers a framework for local sustainability. However, HSTs lack adequate sustainable CE implementation tools. This study, the culmination of the H-SMA-CE project, develops a Decision Support System (DSS) to assist local policymakers in planning CE transitions in Italian HSTs. The DSS integrates three building blocks: context analysis (metabolic flows, stakeholder networks), an intervention library with cost–benefit data, and a composite Municipal Circular Economy Index (MCEI). The tool enables users to assess baseline circularity, simulate scenarios, and identify optimal investment portfolios through multi-objective optimization. This approach allows for the simultaneous evaluation of the benefits of each sustainability aspect, i.e., environmental, economic and social. Tested on the municipality of Taurasi (Italy), an HST with a wine-based economy, the results show that balanced intervention strategies yield greater circularity improvements than single-objective approaches. The paper contributes to the discourse on digital tools for sustainability transitions, offering a replicable model for evidence-based CE governance in heritage-rich territorial contexts. Full article

Depopulation threatens livelihoods, services, and cultural landscapes. In the scientific literature, tourism is frequently discussed as a potential lever in depopulation contexts, yet reported demographic outcomes vary widely across settings. We conducted a PRISMA-informed systematic review of Web of Science and Scopus (1993–2025), identifying 268 articles that were coded using a hybrid bibliometric–narrative approach into thematic axes and reported effect directions (positive, neutral, negative). Reported outcomes are heterogeneous and conditional rather than uniform. Tourism is associated with positive demographic trajectories, primarily where it is embedded in diversified local economies, supported by strong social capital, and integrated into coordinated governance and planning frameworks; negative or neutral outcomes recur under tourism monoculture, strong seasonality, housing pressure, and weak territorial regulation. Keyword co-occurrence and narrative analyses identify three dominant thematic clusters (rural development, spatial–cultural transformation, and sustainability) structured around depopulation as the central conceptual node. The geography of knowledge production further indicates a strong European concentration, particularly in Southern Europe, where tourism is explicitly framed as a policy response to demographic decline, while non-European research adopts more analytical and sectoral perspectives. Overall, this review shows that tourism functions as a contingent territorial lever rather than a universal remedy: its demographic associations depend on institutional, spatial, and socio-economic configurations. By systematically organizing fragmented evidence, the study clarifies when tourism is reported to support demographic stabilization, and when it is reported to have no effect or to coincide with continued decline, providing a clearer analytical basis for future comparative research and context-sensitive territorial policy design. Full article

This study investigates the demographic transformation of Spain’s settlement system from 2000 to the present, driven by intersecting forces of rural depopulation, metropolitan concentration, immigration, and welfare-state dynamics. Building on an integrated theoretical framework that combines Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, demographic accounting, territorial carrying capacity, and spatial centrality, the research aims to (1) identify the mechanisms governing population redistribution across Spanish municipalities, and (2) simulate future demographic trajectories under current policy regimes. Key findings reveal that all net population growth since 2000 stems exclusively from immigration and its demographic sequelae, while the native Spanish cohort has experienced a net decline of 5.5 million due to negative natural change. The analysis further uncovers a self-reinforcing “demographic trap,” wherein welfare eligibility tied to household size incentivizes higher fertility among economically vulnerable immigrant groups, even as native families delay childbearing due to economic precarity. These dynamics are accelerating a process of “territorial transmutation,” projected to culminate in a shift in de facto governance by 2045. The study concludes that immigration alone cannot reverse rural depopulation or ensure fiscal sustainability without structural reforms to welfare design, territorial incentives, and demographic foresight. Full article

Recent studies in the Romanian Western Carpathians have revealed increasing socio-demographic fragility in rural areas and small towns, driven by depopulation, population aging, and declining living standards. These trends stem from the legacy of forced collectivization and industrialization (1950–1990) and the post-1990 transition, which triggered extensive out-migration and the erosion of local socio-economic structures. This study examines the fragility of human communities in the Trascău Mountains in order to evaluate spatial, demographic, and economic recovery dynamics and to assess settlement vulnerability as a major obstacle to sustainable regional development. Fragility was measured using indicators of population density and change, age structure, accessibility, and socio-demographic dynamics, based on comparative data for the interval of 1977–2021. These variables were integrated into a composite development index (Id), derived from twelve indicators covering demography, economy, infrastructure, and living standards, enabling the hierarchical classification of settlements by degree of vulnerability. The methodological framework combines empirical and analytical methods, statistical, cartographic, bibliographic, and field-based analyses within evolutionary, structural–functional, and typological perspectives. The results identify the main drivers of decline, quantify their impacts, and outline development prospects and policy directions for reducing territorial disparities. Overall, fragile settlements emerge as critical pressure points that undermine sustainability, intensify regional instability, and increase risks related to migration and social cohesion. Full article

This paper addresses the problem of imbalance between coastal and inland areas and recognises the reuse of abandoned buildings as an evolutionary regeneration strategy which, through specific interventions linked by a system of routes for tourism and sport, can gradually trigger sustainable development on a regional scale. It presents research conducted in recent years on behalf of local administrations and continued in national and European projects. The reference context is the Abruzzo region, where coastal, hilly and mountainous areas are a short distance apart and include both densely built-up and populated urban centres and small depopulated towns surrounded by landscapes of high environmental value. The objective is to define, through the responsible use of built resources, viable and sustainable strategies for regeneration and rebalancing oriented towards the concept of transformative resilience. The methodology adopted is divided into phases and includes both theoretical developments and case study applications according to an approach that networks building restoration and reuse interventions in the region. The key results consist of defining a reuse logic that considers the regional territory as a whole, linking different resources, functions and environments. This logic, which envisages the organisation of new functions on a regional scale, emphasises the capacity of building reuse to produce positive effects on the territory and trigger socio-economic development dynamics. This research forms part of the experience underlying a project of significant national interest (PRIN 2022 TRIALs), which will provide guidelines for activating the transformative resilience capacities of inland areas of central Italy. Full article

This study examines the determinants of talent retention in the hotel sector of Extremadura, a peripheral European region facing depopulation, labour scarcity and structural limitations that threaten the sustainability of its human capital base. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory, the research analyses how a set of key labour resources, specifically professional training, organisational trust, job satisfaction and sustainability commitment, influence employees’ intention to remain in their organisations. These resources are conceptualised as organisational and motivational mechanisms that enhance employees’ capacity to cope with job demands and reinforce their attachment to the organisation. A quantitative survey was conducted with hotel-sector employees in Extremadura; 255 questionnaires were validated, and the proposed structural model was tested using SEM. The findings show that organisational trust is the strongest predictor of retention, followed by professional training and sustainability commitment, while job satisfaction also exerts a significant, though more moderate, effect. These results indicate that enhancing fairness perceptions, strengthening continuous training pathways and integrating sustainability-oriented values are essential strategies for retaining qualified personnel in territories with limited external opportunities. Rather than measuring human capital sustainability directly, the study shows that talent retention operates as a central empirical mechanism through which the sustainability of human capital can be supported in peripheral tourism economies. It concludes by highlighting the need for managerial practices that support transparent leadership, structured professional development and participatory sustainability initiatives, and encourages future research to incorporate longitudinal designs and direct measures of human capital sustainability. Full article

Italian inner areas face population decline, limited access to services and fragile infrastructure; however, the micro-mechanisms through which community practices generate tangible improvements often remain unclear. Still, local communitarian initiatives, such as those represented by ecovillages, can be an effective response to the ongoing process of marginalisation, becoming true living labs for place-based transitions. Through the analysis of the Torri Superiore Ecovillage (Imperia, Italy), a recognised and well-known good practice in the national and international ecovillage circuit, we want to find answers to three research questions: (RQ1) To what extent can an ecovillage act as a living lab for social innovation and ecological transition in inner areas? (RQ2) Which demographic and governance conditions enable territorial resilience and which ones block it? (RQ3) Which environmental practices generate locally significant improvements and with what limitations? Based on qualitative and interpretative evidence (2016–2025)—field observations, internal documents and testimonies—and on essential demographic indicators (ISTAT/SNAI), this study examines the Torri Superiore Ecovillage as a small-scale living lab. Torri Superiore and the surrounding municipalities are ageing and have reduced demographic bases; however selective immigration and heterogeneity of skills act as partial buffers. The governance of the Torri Superiore Ecovillage combines clear rules, participatory routines and coordination mechanisms, promoting problem solving while remaining sensitive to leadership burdens. The “bridging” between multiple actors enables terrace maintenance, local water resource management, agroecological practices, renewable energy adoption, waste prevention/composting and light mobility to achieve tangible environmental improvements on a small scale. We frame transferability as analytical (not statistical), specify the enabling conditions (sufficient active participants, stable routines, territorial management) and outline the relevant policy implications for SNAI classes and a lightweight longitudinal observatory. Full article

This study examines how the values of authenticity and integrity can be integrated into territorial and landscape planning, moving beyond a restoration-based view of heritage. It focuses on the defensive architecture system of Castellón province (Spain), which features around 150 fortifications forming a continuous landscape between coastal and inland areas. In a context of urban pressure, rural depopulation, and heritage tourism, this research explores how the management of these assets can be aligned with coherent territorial strategies. The aim is to assess the material, visual, and symbolic coherence of the system and to understand the tensions between physical conservation, cultural authenticity, and landscape transformation. The methodology combines documentary review, spatial analysis using GIS, and fieldwork, applying qualitative indicators of material authenticity, territorial integrity, and scenic value adapted from ICOMOS guidance and established scientific literature. The results reveal a clear contrast: 62% of urban castles are restored or consolidated, while 71% of rural ones remain in ruins, and 82% preserve high visual integrity. This paradox shows that heritage sustainability is less dependent on formal reconstruction (only 14% are fully restored) than on maintaining relationships between architecture, environment, and community. This study proposes an integrated territorial management approach that links conservation, use, and landscape as interdependent components of a single cultural system. Full article

Population ageing and rural depopulation are reshaping the social and spatial structure of many European regions, producing new forms of social risk and care dependency. This study examines how institutionalization among older adults reflects the broader dynamics of demographic decline, migration, and uneven territorial development. Using a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews and social network mapping (ecomaps) were conducted with residents of an urban elderly care facility in Romania. Guided by frameworks of social sustainability, social capital, and territorial resilience, the analysis explores how the erosion of informal networks and migration-driven care deficits affects the wellbeing and social inclusion of older people. Findings show that institutionalization operates both a consequence and as an indicator of depopulation and spatial inequality, highlighting the disconnection between aging populations and community-based care infrastructures. Yet, residents develop micro-level forms of resilience and relational stability within institutional life. The study concludes that sustainable territorial development must integrate care and ageing into regional planning, encouraging decentralized, community-based services that rebuild local networks and restore social cohesion. Full article