Vitality in remote areas. Cultural social economy organisations and public policies for culturally sustainable local development

This study examines the potential of cultural social economy organizations (CSEOs) to foster development in peripheral areas by addressing the policy framework, community involvement, and impacts. Peripheral areas, shaped by long-run anthropisation processes, often possess rich cultural and environmental resources that can spur socio-economic dynamism. However, these regions also face challenges of economic decline, cultural heritage depletion, and exclusion from development planning due to top-down approaches with predetermined aims. Such approaches risk disconnecting communities from their intrinsic values, leading to unsustainable outcomes. As a result of communities' disaffection with their territories, most peripheral areas are now “fragile territories”. Even in the absence of elements of fragility, peripheral areas where communities become disaffected with their territory are often unable to create opportunities for residents and fulfil their aspirations in life.This research explores how CSEOs can counteract these challenges by fostering inclusivity and participation, producing permanent spaces for enquiry and discovery of what has reason to be valued by the community, and supporting community-driven aims. It uses the case of Trentino’s “Puntodoc” and its annual “Contavalle” festival, situated in Cembra Valley, a territory with characteristics of inner areas despite not being formally designated as such. Combining primary data from six stakeholder interviews with secondary sources, the study contextualizes the festival’s impact within broader policies. The findings highlight the value of combining top-down policy identification with bottom-up discovery functions of civil society organizations to bridge social and territorial gaps. The study underlines the importance of integrating local perspectives into development strategies, suggesting that policies that frame cultural production in terms of public good and support civil society organisations accordingly, as well as the presence of grassroots cultural initiatives which have the primary aim of uncovering publics and methods of enquiry, are critical for fostering community vitality. By promoting inclusive governance and participatory processes, CSEOs can align material and immaterial resource coordination with emergent community aims, advancing human development comprehensively. These insights contribute to the broader debate on sustainable development and the role of culture in revitalizing peripheral areas and groups more generally