Angela Santangelo

Access to essential services is a key determinant of quality of life, social inclusion, and territorial cohesion in rural areas, where low population density and spatial dispersion often limit service provision. Ensuring equitable service accessibility represents an important component of sustainable rural development, as it contributes to the resilience and long-term viability of rural communities. Although access to services has gained increasing attention over recent decades, the conceptualization, measurement, and operationalization of accessibility in rural contexts remain fragmented across regions and disciplines. This paper presents a systematic review of the scientific literature on access to services in rural areas of Europe, aiming to synthesize existing knowledge, identify dominant methodological approaches, and highlight key research gaps. The review examines the types of services and transport modes considered to reach them, the indicators and metrics used to assess accessibility, and the spatial scales of analysis. The results reveal a strong focus on a limited range of services, a predominant reliance on car-based travel time measures, and substantial heterogeneity in data sources and analytical methods. The paper concludes by outlining a hierarchical framework for service accessibility to support future analysis and evidence-based policymaking aimed at promoting sustainable and inclusive development in rural Europe.

Nowadays, decision-makers and spatial planners are increasingly faced with a multitude of complex and interconnected challenges which include among others the adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and the management of cultural heritage. However, there is a lack of easy-to-use resources and methodologies for them to access robust science-based knowledge and translate it into planning instruments. In addition, efforts for integrating different policy domains that are traditionally managed by siloed and specialised legislative frameworks remain limited, while weak mechanisms for monitoring and updating policy responses are put in place. This hinders the development of effective and holistic policies that could address not just one, but several societal challenges simultaneously. As part of the Horizon Europe funded project RescueME, aimed at increasing the resilience of coastal cultural landscapes, a methodology of policy analysis has been developed through which researchers and local experts can integrate their specific expertise. This approach is based on the collection and mapping of all relevant policy and planning tools in the sectors of spatial planning, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and cultural heritage management of five case study areas across Europe, namely Neuwerk (Germany), Psiloritis (Greece), Valenca (Spain), Zadar (Croatia) and Portovenere and Cinque Terre (Italy). Through a questionnaire, key information is extracted and then used to assign rankings for an indicator-based policy assessment. The overall goal is to evaluate the adaptive capacity and the level of inclusion of provisions for cultural heritage management, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction into existing environmental and spatial planning tools, as the basis for the development of policy recommendations tailored to local contexts and demands. The results reveal significant variation between tools and the different case study areas, in terms of the adaptiveness, accessibility and cross-sector coordination. However, there are also common barriers such as unclear hierarchies between different policies and administrative scales as well as gaps in the specificity of policy monitoring and review mechanisms. The work demonstrates how a methodology based on structured quantification of policy characteristics, combined with continuous engagement between researchers and practitioners, may facilitate closing governing gaps and strengthen the effectiveness of policies various administrative levels.

Measuring the resilience of historic areas is challenging due to their heterogeneity in scale, heritage type, multi-hazard exposure, and socio-cultural context, creating the need for a flexible framework aligned with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approaches. This study introduces the SHELTER framework, which takes the historic area as its primary unit of analysis while enabling a cross-scalar assessment, from artefact/building scale to urban and transregional contexts. Developed through a co-creation strategy and an extensive literature review, the framework integrates indicators for multidimensional, cross-scale, and systemic resilience assessment and monitoring. The indicators span hazards such as heatwaves, earthquakes, floods, subsidence, and wildfires and capture exposure and vulnerability, the latter being understood as the sensitivity and coping, adaptive, and transformative capacities of communities. Refinement using the RACER methodology yielded a concise yet comprehensive shortlist of indicators, providing both general overviews and specific insights tailored to historic environments. The framework’s efficacy was tested across five case studies, demonstrating adaptability and suitability in diverse historic areas. Overall, SHELTER moves beyond a traditional focus on physical vulnerability and risk management, offering a replicable, holistic set of resilience indicators that supports consistent assessment and monitoring while respecting the singularities of historic settings.

The Adriatic–Ionian region is seismically very active and poses a major challenge for risk mitigation. Each country has developed laws, standards, and techniques to reduce seismic vulnerability. The ADRISEISMIC project created a database of existing regulatory and incentive frameworks, based on a comprehensive study conducted in six countries. The study covered seismic norms, building regulations, urban planning regulations, incentive frameworks, and post-earthquake planning. A comparative matrix was developed in which key parameters, such as year of issuance, references to EU regulations, level of enforcement, mandatory status, target groups, reference period in relation to earthquake occurrence, and consideration of cultural heritage, were analyzed. The database aims to support a harmonized strategy to reduce seismic vulnerability by promoting measures based on common reference standards. This increases safety, improves the built environment, and minimizes risks to people and nature. Particular attention will be paid to historic urban areas that are both vulnerable and rich in cultural heritage. The collected regulatory and incentive framework will serve as a basis for future research to support the identification of good practices and the formulation of customized roadmaps to apply them to reduce seismic vulnerability.

Enhancing territorial resilience while reducing risks is of paramount importance for communities, especially for those in historic areas where vulnerability is a significant component of risk, and where cultural heritage serves as a catalyst for collective identity. However, policies and planning tools designed to protect historic areas from natural and anthropic risks remain fragmented. The aim of this paper is to provide evidence-based guidance to help policymakers build tailored roadmaps for reducing the seismic vulnerability of historic areas. This research focuses on the Adriatic–Ionian region, with six countries identified as case studies. The methodology is structured in three phases. First, good practices for addressing seismic vulnerability are identified and codified to improve existing knowledge. Second, a replicability and scalability assessment of the good practices is performed for each case study. Finally, roadmaps are developed as ready-to-use tools to support the implementation of measures to reduce seismic vulnerability. Although the results reveal considerable variability in the readiness levels of the six case studies to act for reducing seismic vulnerability, the overall methodology effectively supports policymakers in moving from good practice selection to tailored roadmaps for enhancing resilience.

Policies are a deliberate system that defines action and guides short-term decisions in pursuing a goal. Policy is a fundamental instrument of governance which is extensively used worldwide. However, not all policies are created equally. Contemporary literature is littered with examples of policy failures, and a large research emphasis is dedicated to co-creating ‘good’ policy. This challenge of developing good policy is exacerbated when we consider the rapidly evolving risks related to climate change. The evolving risks can make it difficult to define valid policy goals over the longer term. Furthermore, stakeholders are increasingly needed across policy and practice to overcome siloed working and co-create transdisciplinary risk management policies, considering both long-term strategic objectives and short- to medium-term operational solutions. Risk management policy instruments are relevant across spatial scales and engage with policies from other disciplines (urban planning, heritage conservation, environmental management). The article presents an innovative tool called the policy matrix to address challenges faced by policy experts. The policy matrix capitalises upon the co-creative research of the Organigraphs technique defined by Durrant et al. (2021) to co-create disaster risk management governance maps. The article compares two policy matrices developed as part of a Horizon 2020-funded project called SHELTER. In its simplest form, a policy matrix arranges risk management policy instruments around an issue depending on their scale of implementation and disciplinary lens. This allows stakeholders to see all the policy instruments considered relevant to some specific issues. It can further provide stakeholders a robust platform to critique those policies. By way of example, providing them with a tool to clearly “measure” the links between these policies, to identify policy gaps in thematic/operationalisation, or, from a practical perspective, to provide a tool for experts to review the level of participation in the design of these policies or the effectiveness of these policies in practice.

According to the EU Mission Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 (Cities Mission), cities play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change and achieving climate neutrality by 2050, the goal of the European Green Deal. In 2021, the European Commission launched a call for interest addressed to cities to deliver at least 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, to inspire and enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050. The city of Bologna in Italy is one of the 100 EU cities that have been selected. By describing the unique long-lasting city-university partnership that characterises Bologna, this chapter presents the collaborative process behind the expression of interest of the Municipality of Bologna in the Cities Mission, and the contribution the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna is committed to give to the city's goal to become climate-neutral by 2030.

Rural areas are regaining attention as key resource holders. This includes the attractiveness of intact and traditional cultural elements and heritage which helps to create new opportunities. However, renewal is needed for rural areas to be competitive beyond tourism. Knowledge exchange and transfer is seen as an enabling tool for regeneration and heritage valorization, although it has mostly been applied in an urban context. The aim of this paper is to explore the role of capacity building and knowledge exchange at different levels in promoting rural regeneration through heritage-led initiatives. The article describes a multi-directional knowledge transfer and exchange in 19 rural areas. The applied knowledge exchange methodology was designed to be a dynamic and vibrant exchange of capacity building and mutual learning. This exchange of knowledge enabled the local communities involved to explore new ideas and viable solutions for the regeneration of rural areas through the valorization of cultural and natural heritage. The research findings show that structuring a knowledge transfer and capacity building process that also involves key local stakeholders and the rural communities is an important milestone in the regeneration process. In addition, it can be a unique opportunity to start and build new professional long-term relationships.