ABSTRACT
In European countries many measures are carried out to improve the disadvantaged conditions and socio-economic marginality of rural areas in comparison with central places. These conditions also affect the quality of travel for visitors and tourists. Therefore, in response to a ‘new' tourist demand, motivated also by the restrictions following the spread of the COVID-19 virus in recent years, the institutions and the different local actors are working more incisively to improve rural areas. The rural tourism services offer, combined with the Green Infrastructure (GI) project, at different scales—from local to regional—interesting territorial development strategies to achieve the Agenda 2030 objectives. This contribution considers the Sulcis-Iglesiente-Guspinese area, in the Sardinia Region (IT), as a case study. In this area, the landscape context is marked by past mining activity, and the project of a path of historical, cultural, and religious values has proven to be an activator of regenerative processes, in environmental, social, and economic terms. The present study proposes a methodological approach to develop an index (FI—feasibility index) to assess the feasibility of the Stop Places (SPs) project along a horse trail to integrate the current slow mobility of bicycles and pedestrians in the bioregion. © 2023 by the authors.
ABSTRACT
The tourism crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic has caused many communities to rethink and review tourism. In fact, in European countries, many destinations are now focused on more inclusive and sustainable measures rather than over tourism, so they have invested in sustainability to create tourist-friendly places. The rural areas, in particular, are affected by a demand motivated by a longing for discovery and authenticity, and they seem to be working towards a multi-scalar planning: walkability and digitalization stand out as fundamental choices to meet the needs of tourists and residents. In this context, the paper aims, after a preliminary review of the literature on rural areas’ walkability, to highlight the relationship between rural walkability and tourism through the analysis and comparison of two rural paths: the Mining Path of Santa Barbara (Sardinia, Italy) and the Path of Saint James (Gran Canaria, Spain). It represents virtuous examples of fruition and enhancement of the insular landscape, promoting a place-based approach for a sustainable and cohesive local development. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The recent pandemic has affected health and lifestyles, highlighting the vulnerability of cities and territories, such as the ecological-environmental and climate crisis, as a result of progressive urbanization-urban connections. The health emergency was governed in the absence of geographical-territorial references, often generalizing limitations and actions to contain the spread of the Sars- Cov2 virus. In this framework, a methodological policy approach is proposed for cities and territories, for multi-risk management (environment-health) in order to overcome the gap that the health emergency has further highlighted, both in the context of the completion of the reform of intermediate institutions in Italy and in the transitions in progress (energy, ecological and digital). Copyright © FrancoAngeli.
ABSTRACT
The health emergency (COVID-19) in Italy had a great impact mainly in the Northern part. The geographical and environmental similarities observed between this area and the Wuhan area in the Province of Hubei (China), led to the basic hypothesis of this paper, namely how the presence of atmospheric pollutants can generate stress on the health conditions of the population and thus determine the pre-conditions for the development of diseases of the respiratory system. The aim of the paper is to produce three different hazard scenarios in Italy using the AHP method (Spatial Analytical Hierarchy Process) and thirteen information levels grouped into classes respectively related to environmental, climatic and land management factors. © Società editrice il Mulino.
ABSTRACT
The recent pandemic has affected health and lifestyles, highlighting the vulnerability of cities and territories, such as the ecological-environmental and climatic crisis, as a result of the progressive urbanization-urban connections. The prevalence of CoViD-19 cases was recorded in highly connected urban contexts with poor air quality. The entire health emergency was governed in the absence of geographical-territorial references, generalizing limitations and actions to contain the spread of the Sars-Cov2 virus. In this framework, a methodological approach to policy for cities and territories is proposed, for multi-risk management (environment-health) and to formulate responses to change, as part of the completion of the reform of intermediate bodies in Italy also with reference to the National Plan Resistance and Resilience. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
This research develops from a set of basic geographical questions about the outbreak of Covid-19 out of China in Europe. The questions dealt with why and why with such strength Italy has been seriously hit, one of the most important cases in terms of death toll out of Hubei Province and mainland China, in the world, making the country a worldwide study case for epidemic concentration and diffusion. Questions were also related to geographical similarities among the areas hit, and particularly the Po Valley region and Wuhan metropolitan region in Hubei province, and also related to why such a divide of the virus spreading was identified in Italy between Northern and Central and Southern regions and provinces. In order to try to give an answer these questions, authors realized a vast and articulated database of indicators at provincial level in Italy, performing several geographical analyses - ecological approach - based on Spatial autocorrelation and Geographical Weighted Regression, coming to the conclusion that aspects such as land take, pollution can seriously influence the phenomenon and justify a pattern as that observable in Italy. The analyses and observation of the phenomenon also suggests that policies based on urban regeneration, sustainable mobility, green infrastructures, ecosystem services can create a more sustainable scenario able to support the quality of public health.