Trento Social Commons. Community Engagement as Tools for Physical and Cultural Relationships Between Rural and Peripheral Spaces

Abstract

Expansion of urbanized areas heavily changed cultural landscapes' features in many European
 countries. Mountain territories have been hit by such processes too; due to their peculiar social
 and topographical characteristics these effects have been greater than in other territories.
 Moreover, urbanization expansion process in the Alps is strongly related with temporary
 dynamics depending from touristic fluxes, implementation of new spaces of mobility, economic
 development and living.
 In a context of extreme land scarcity like in the Alps, urban sprawl and dwellers' search for
 nature proximity to homes and residential areas put territorial governance instruments under
 pressure and opens up complex questions.
 Beside other experiences between urban and peripheral spaces, the essay aims at speculating
 that typical rural communitarian governance models are able to strengthen collective interests
 over individual ones and can be translated into urban governance models by public authorities.
 Direct observations in the city of Trento demonstrated how citizens - even where specific
 collective governance models are not commonly applied – involved in specific projects are able
 to generate systemic solution and self-develop associative and cooperative models to regenerate
 open spaces around the city. Such examples can be considered as pilots to be extended to other
 (alpine) urban territories following an approach that the city of Trento is implementing through
 different participatory policy instruments or through European projects.