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This paper aims at scrutinizing from an historical perspective the deep transformations shaped by retail spaces and new consumption patterns challenging long-entrenched dichotomies, such as the centre-periphery one. In particular, the exploratory research explores the territorial reconfiguration of the main Eastern Sicily metropolitan areas, Catania and Messina, from the lens of the retail geography, namely after the diffusion of new suburban retail formats which have completely upset deeply-rooted relations between urban core and suburban rings.

In the current paper the authors used the STeMA methodology, adopted in PRIN 2015 Programme and applied to Italian inner areas to check the impact of European and Italian policies to get the objective of territorial cohesion. At first the authors provide a synthesis of scientific and institutional debate on inner areas and inner peripheries. Then they use three indicators, according to the TIA approach, to audit the contributions of important local development factors, such University and three-years graduates. They also studied the policies of cohesion and territorial development in Sicily in planning 2014-2020. Finally, the authors outline some initial reflections on the state of the research carried out and on the necessity for a redesign of the complex relationship between university and territory, as a strategic aspect of the more general national policies for territorial cohesion.