The “Integral Design” as a tool for the development of internal areas; a comparison with the fascist “agricultural colonization”

The abandonment of internal areas is a relevant issue for the Italian national system because of the vastness of the areas involved and the many economic and environmental implications. With the pandemic crisis and the subsequent economic crisis of recent years, the repopulation of small villages has emerged as an alternative model to that of large cities. This process, almost only connected to a residential repopulation, is, in reality, a transitory phenomenon and, above all, deleterious to the reactivation of these territories. The recent update of the National Strategy for Inner Areas has, in fact, highlighted the need for a ‘place-based approach’ aimed at the activation of new economic processes to accompany the housing ones. The war crisis between Russia and Ukraine, on the other hand, has brought to the forefront the issue of Europe’s and Italy’s lack of energy and food self-sufficiency, reminding us that these territories are wasting resources that are fundamental for the growth of our countries. All this leads to affirming the need for an “integral design” of the entire national territory that leads to rebuilding the links between cities and peripheral territories. This reflection, already activated in the past with the policy of the “integral reclamation” and the “agricultural colonization” of the fascist period can become, today, fundamental for the start of a design of the physical and not only economic space of the country and for the activation of new processes of integrated design of the inner territories.