Territori fragili. Scenari, strategie e azioni per contrastare lo spopolamento e la marginalità delle aree interne e rurali.

The process of population redistribution within the Italian national territory has become relevant over the last decades. Particularly, the population moving from small municipalities to major urban areas is the most evident, especially within the Sardinian territory. This study deals with rural depopulation, considered a systemic phenomenon. Firstly, a conceptual interpretative framework of policies and strategies at different scales for rural territories, inner areas and inner peripheries is retrieved from the literature complexity. This is done by keeping a strategic balance between the macro and micro-level and critically redefining the internal areas classification criteria at the same time. Secondly, this work creates a perimeter of action where the intervention is analyzed considering qualitative aspects and potentiality tied to every place's territorial features. Thirdly, two innovative initiatives implemented within the territory of Sardinia are investigated, highlighting their impact on infrastructural, human and social capital. Mainly, the role of community manager of rural areas and the policy 1 euro house are experimented to detect the interaction between tangible and intangible actions. This study shows the community manager to be of paramount importance in the participatory processes in the internal areas. Consequently, the institutionalization of the community manager role is suggested to support bottom-up projects, whose success generally depends on occasional financing opportunities and inhabitant’s willingness.