Rural innovation, ecosystem services and urbanisation processes in Liguria, between coastal and inner areas

Exploiting environmental resources and urbanisation processes has significantly altered the natural ecosystems over time, turning them into socio-ecological systems strongly affected by anthropic settlements. Spatial planning must therefore aim at new development models able to harmonise the need to preserve the environmental components with the need to reduce the socio-economic inequalities, often linked to inequitable access to ecosystem services. The case study of the Liguria Region is presented, with its marked polarisation between the linear coastal conurbation and inner areas, the areas providing the most significant number of ecosystem services and those with greater population and urbanisation density, which are instead organised as large demand poles. The paper analyses the relationship between environmental values, in terms of ecosystem multifunctionality, and rural innovation forms that support territorial competitiveness. The aim is to explore how a systemic approach can integrate opportunities between the inner and coastal areas, qualifying the valley systems as new elements of the anthropic-environmental structure of the region. Article info Received: 21/03/2023; Revised: 27/04/2023; Accepted: 05/05/2023