Sustainable development has been one of the focal themes in the international debate for several decades now. More recently, also thanks to the intervention of local institutions and governments, there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of promoting forms of local development, based on endogenous valuable resources (natural and cultural), leading to, on the one hand, the enhancement of the territorial heritage (D’Auria, 2018; Pulpón and Ruiz, 2020), and on the other hand, the emergence of opportunities for growth for all communities (Ruault and Talandier, 2020, also thanks to the spread of new technologies (Russo-Spena et al., 2022; D’Auria, 2023; Hidalgo-Sánchez et al., 2024).
The territorial heritage includes all the factors that characterize a territory and which, if properly used and enhanced, can be transformed into valuable resources capable of generating competitive advantage becoming levers of development (Feria, 2012). It follows that the proper management and enhancement of local resources can represent a source of well-being and growth, both in economic and, more in general, in social terms (Selicato, 2016; Pablo-Romero et al., 2016).
The starting point must be the recognition of the heritage present in a territory and the recognition of the value, including potential value, with which that set of resources is endowed, precisely the territorial capital (Dancausa Millán et al., 2023). In this, the collaboration and sharing of resources between all the actors of the territory becomes fundamental and essential, therefore, raising awareness about the importance of local resources have to be one of the main objectives to be pursued by institutions but also by academics and experts, in order to promote consciousness from companies angle to prefer local collaborations and from citizens’ perspective to respect the available heritage (Safonte, 2021; Ruiz Pulpón and Canizares Ruiz, 2020).
This volume aims to contribute to the process of raising awareness about the importance of local resources as a lever for sustainable development that can support the territory both in terms of economic growth and in terms of social progress. Therefore, through empirical and theoretical contributions, the purpose of this publication is to investigate the dynamics that characterize the field of Sustainable Territorial Development, as well as the potential strategies of development, and the current criticalities and opportunities, contributing to the international debate that finds in sustainable development one of the focal themes and of strongly transversal interest. The transversality of the theme leads to the collection of contributions that adopt different perspectives, both in terms of the areas observed and in terms of the topics explored. In detail, the volume will be developed on the basis of three trajectories, namely: the recognition and enhancement of the territorial heritage; sustainability as an approach to the use of resources and an objective of development; innovation as a tool for achieving a correct and rational use of resources.
The volume is addressed to a wide audience, scholars but also practitioners, therefore, this proposal calls for chapters consisting of either theoretical advances or empirical observations as well as a combination of them, thus stimulating further debate involving scholars and practitioners.
References
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