Innovazione rurale, servizi ecosistemici, e processi di urbanizzazione in Liguria, tra costa ed entroterra

The exploitation of 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 hinterland. This territorial structure is at the base of the relevant difference between 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. This paper analyses the relationship between environmental values, in terms of ecosystem multifunctionality, and rural innovation forms that contribute to supporting territorial competitiveness. The aim is to explore how a systemic approach can facilitate integration opportunities between the inner and coastal areas, qualifying the valley systems as new elements of the anthropic-environmental structure of the region.