Territorial Impact Assessment of national and regional territorial cohesion in Italy Place evidence and policy orientations towards European Green Deal

From February 2017, ten Italian academic groups, acting in collaborative partnership in the matter of Economic Geography, have investigated, discussed and implemented the Territorial Cohesion vision in Italy. By literature review and experimental application of an innovative methodological approach of Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) and the related GIS tool – named STeMA - Sustainable Territorial environmental/economic Management Approach -, they produced critical review of concepts, data, assessing, mapping and regional studies, making evidence the Territorial Cohesion and related funtional typologies at national, regional and sub-regional level. The book marks the conclusion of three-year intensive research activity . It offers to researchers, institutions, scholars, stakeholders, practioners and policymakers quali-quantitative data, mapping of place evidence, 2014-2020 ex ante and ex post policy assessments, guidelines and recommendations useful to design the future of territorialised Cohesion Policy in Italy, as part of a European framework. It anticipates the significant size on which Italian government and regions can invest in order to conclude the present programming period and, coherently with the Green Deal Strategy, to face the next 2021-2027. Involving more than sixty researchers, national and regional policy/decision makers, stakeholders and practitioners, the inception and draft research’s results have found common publishing spaces in 2018-2019 . As rarely happens, the research – submitted to Ministry of University in 2015– has enjoyed the advantage of developing in parallel with the discussion that led the European Commission, between 2017 and 2019, in order to imagine and then approve the Union post-2020 thematic and financial framework. On this thrust, the narrative of Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) of the territorial cohesion of Italian regions. Model, based on place evidence, for the evaluation of policies aimed at the development of inner and metropolitan peripheries towards Green Economy, placed in the macro field of the Human Sciences and the Economic Geography, has assessed both the Europe 2020 Strategy pillars and flags and anticipated the Green Deal Strategy issues. This multiple scope has received attention and appreciation not only from national and regional institutions, but also from European institutions and academics (Cfr. International Conference, Rome 11-12 April 2019), who share the message that territorial cohesion is the base of the country dynamism and competitive attitude in sustainability. This concept has matured and increased, making it measurable and evaluable to provide policy decision makers the right inspiration in the satisfaction of policy needs respecting the geographical diversity.This book has been preceded by: Prezioso, M. (a cura di). Quale Territorial Impact Assessment della coesione territoriale nelle regioni italiane. La concettualizzazione del problema. Roma, Patron; and Bulletin of Italian Geographical Society, special issue 2019, eds by M. Prezioso and F. Dini