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Rural industrial heritage reflects the ongoing changes in natural environmental, socio-economic, and cultural historical processes in the countryside. In the context of urbanization, the study, conservation, and reuse of rural industrial heritage have become necessary to consolidate the local community identity and promote rural development. This study aims at establishing an intervention tool with general applicability to regenerate rural industrial heritage while integrating local sustainable development. Through a diagrammatic analysis of the natural and artificial environment, this paper combines three aspects via a layered approach: landscape analysis, urban morphology, and spatial cognition. A layered model of rural industrial heritage regeneration is established, with space and consciousness as its core. The empirical study, using the example of the Shecun lime kiln, demonstrates that the spatial-consciousness layered model (SCLM) clearly explains the core roles of transforming material elements as spatial power and the evolution of cognitive elements as consciousness power in the regeneration of rural industrial heritage. It is a systemic model with adaptable and sustainable analysis. SCLM not only provides indicative strategies but serves as a management tool for the regeneration practices of rural industrial heritage.

This article describes a part of the POTENTIALS project promoted by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) of the EU, which, in general, has aimed to develop business models for the reuse of former industrial and mining sites in different European regions. The goal of this project focused on the creation of so-called eco-industrial parks to enable sustainable energy production and reduce waste and pollution on coal sites in transition. A key aspect was the development of a suitable territorial impact assessment (TIA), a new and complex policy tool for the assessment of the territorial impacts of EU policies and projects on territorial cohesion. Therefore, the special TEQUILA (Territorial Efficiency, Quality and Identity Layer Assessment) approach is used to describe the TIA for this case and emphasizes its application in assessing ex ante the impacts of the transition from a coal site to an eco-industrial park. It underlines the need for a differentiated understanding of the regional characteristics and potential impacts of transition policies or projects. Furthermore, the process and results of applying the TEQUILA methodology, a multicriteria analysis, in the context of regionalized impact models has shown how important it is to select well-defined, expert-based criteria, but at the same time, to establish a system that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of political decision makers and stakeholders considering the normative weights of the criteria. This has been illustrated by some examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures territorial competitiveness at the municipal level in Italy, by proposing a robust composite indicator based on variables not yet used in the literature. The underlying theoretical framework is identified based on the literature on regional competitiveness. The proposed indicator consists of the following seven dimensions of competitiveness: Education, Job, Economic Wellbeing, Territory and Environment, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Infrastructures and Mobility. Data are retrieved mainly from administrative sources, for 2014 and 2015. In the building process, three aggregation methods are compared: a compensatory method, the arithmetic mean, and two partially compensatory methods, the geometric mean and the Adjusted Mazziotta-Pareto Index (AMPI). The arithmetic mean turns out to be the most robust method among the three considered, but the AMPI is the most robust method among the two partially compensatory methods. All the methods considered agree in identifying Innovation and Entrepreneurship as the most influential pillars in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The detailed geographical focus provides specific insights into territorial competitiveness in Italy. It emerges a rather heterogeneous picture of municipal competitiveness within the Italian regions. Highly competitive municipalities are present in every region, though with different concentration levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a part of the POTENTIALS project promoted by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) of the EU, which, in general, has aimed to develop business models for the reuse of former industrial and mining sites in different European regions. The goal of this project focused on the creation of so-called eco-industrial parks to enable sustainable energy production and reduce waste and pollution on coal sites in transition. A key aspect was the development of a suitable territorial impact assessment (TIA), a new and complex policy tool for the assessment of the territorial impacts of EU policies and projects on territorial cohesion. Therefore, the special TEQUILA (Territorial Efficiency, Quality and Identity Layer Assessment) approach is used to describe the TIA for this case and emphasizes its application in assessing ex ante the impacts of the transition from a coal site to an eco-industrial park. It underlines the need for a differentiated understanding of the regional characteristics and potential impacts of transition policies or projects. Furthermore, the process and results of applying the TEQUILA methodology, a multicriteria analysis, in the context of regionalized impact models has shown how important it is to select well-defined, expert-based criteria, but at the same time, to establish a system that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of political decision makers and stakeholders considering the normative weights of the criteria. This has been illustrated by some examples.

The adversities of a globalized economy and the prolonged state of precariousness in which the indigenous peoples in Central America remain, are factors that push towards an imminent disappearance of their cultural identity and traditional livelihoods. Important global summits of sustainable development have declared the importance of preserving the ancestral wisdom of these native peoples as a world heritage site. However, Policies and strategies to respond to their current problems have generally not been very explicit and efficient in achieving long-term results. One problem identified is the limited empirical evidence of the indigenous territorial context, especially those socioeconomic and territorial analyzes that seek self-dependent and inclusive development styles. To address this research gap, an empirical work is explored to diagnose the current potential of the Honduran Lenca territory as a case study. This is combined with a statistical analysis on the spatial influence of poverty and income variables. The aim is to broaden the understanding of those factors that could oppose the current mechanisms of impoverishment. The main result is the construction of an index of development potential in municipalities of Lenca descent. Poverty patterns and modest deposits of community economies associated with space and its cultural pattern were identified. This provides inputs of important value for the planning of public policies that are more sensitive to the study context, with connections towards sustainable development initiatives. •.Arguments are presented to support more explicit development policies in indigenous communities. • This multifactorial analysis highlights a spatially influenced lag in the analyzed territory. • The municipal development potential index offers a contribution towards more explicit policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]