Improving resilience at the local level: The location of essential services within inner areas. Three case studies in the Italian Marche region

This paper aims at supporting public policies in the location choice of essential services in inner areas. Their provision, which, at present, is completely absent or extremely limited, is reputed to foster the local resilience of settings which have been following a prolonged process of socio-economic marginalization, leading to the creation of an “inner border region”. We contribute to this debate by suggesting the importance of the provision of these services at an appropriate territorial level. By investigating three case studies in the inner areas of the Marche region, we show how and why the location choice of public utilities must concern integrated inter-municipal systems and, equally important, all their sub-municipal settlements. Based on a space-equity approach, we propose a multistep algorithm aimed at achieving a relatively equal access to basic services, combining the need for concentrating their provision in one single municipality and that of their accessibility by local communities. From a public policy perspective, these considerations stress the crucial role an integrated and multilevel governance should have when planning interventions at a local scale, especially within inner areas.