Suchergebnisse

Il contributo illustra le difformità di crescita esistenti tra le economie insulari e le altre economie regionali appartenenti agli stessi paesi, prestando particolare attenzione alla resilienza al periodo di crisi. I risultati dell'analisi confermano l'ipotesi di fondo che vi sia una maggiore rilevanza per le variabili legate alla domanda e all'offerta turistica nei processi di crescita delle isole e mostrano altresì l'importanza di altre variabili (quali le economie di agglomerazione e l'apertura commerciale). Sebbene tutte le determinanti della crescita siano state fortemente influenzate dalla Grande Recessione, questa sembra avere generato un più ridotto impatto negativo sulla crescita nelle isole nel caso della domanda turistica, delle economie di agglomerazione e dell'apertura commerciale. Tali variabili, acquistano dunque un ruolo rilevante anche nei processi di resilienza di queste economie regionali. ; The paper aims at investigating the different growth patterns of island economies with respect to other regional (mainland) economies belonging to the same countries, paying particular attention to resilience to the crisis period. The results of the analysis suggest high relevance of tourism demand and supply for islands growth and highlight the importance of other variables (agglomeration economies and trade openness). Although all the determinants of growth have been strongly affected by the Great Recession, the negative effects on islands growth generated by the crisis seems to be smaller in the case of tourist demand, agglomeration economies and trade openness. These variables, therefore, play a key role also in the resilience processes of these regional economies.

Air transport is an essential component of the tourism industry, and the number, frequency, and capacity of flight connections may influence the level of tourism demand, especially for island destinations. This paper evaluates the influence of air transport on tourism arrivals to selected islands in seven southern European Union countries to determine the nature of the relationship between tourist arrivals and air transport, specifically, whether air transport services generate tourism demand or merely enable touristic flows. The paper uses panel data and applies an econometric model with justifications for endogeneity and dynamic issues. Results show a moderate impact of transport infrastructures on generating additional tourist arrivals; however, the model shows that air transport is a prerequisite to developing tourism demand and is not the only determinant in increasing tourist arrivals. Tourist arrivals appear more a determinant than a consequence of changes in-flight connections.

Community energy (CE) initiatives have been progressively spreading across Europe and are increasingly proposed as innovative and alternative approaches to guarantee higher citizen participation in the transition toward cleaner energy systems. This paper focuses the attention on Italy, a Southern European country characterized by relatively low CE sector development. It fills a gap in the literature by eliciting and presenting novel and comprehensive evidence on recent Italian CE sector developments. Through a stepwise approach it systematically maps and reviews Italian CE initiatives, to then focus the attention on three specific case studies to further explore conditions for development as well as of success within the Italian energy system. The analysis presents an Italian CE sector still at its niche level, characterized by small initiatives largely dependent on national photovoltaics (PV) policy support. It also points out how only larger initiatives, able to operate at national scale, developing multiple projects and differentiating their activities have managed to continue growing at the time of discontinuity of policy support and contraction of the national renewable energy market. Recent EU and national legislative development might support revived development of CE initiatives in Italy.

In this article, we will discuss about the potential of renewable energies available in a relatively small territorial context, such as municipalities, and the various problems interfering with a full exploitation of said potential. Since the launch of Covenant of Mayors, CoM, in 2008, thousands of local governments committed on volunteer basis in reaching or even exceeding, to the EU targets with regards to climate change and renewable energies for the years to come. Every local government committed to the CoM needs to produce the SEAP (Sustainable Energy Action Plan), which highlights the actions that the government is willing to implement in order to achieve the target set by the CoM (referred either to the 2020 or to the 2030). While studying the local context, many problems of various nature often arise which can be detrimental for the full exploitation of the potential of renewable resources available. This article displays a few examples of local governments located around the world and the problems encountered while writing their SEAP, related to geographical position, types of agricultural, industrial and commercial activities in the area, plants already operative, financial situation of the local government and the population living in the area. The possible areas of intervention include energy efficiency works on public and private buildings, traffic reduction strategies, energy recovery systems applied to factories and industrial plants, solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind power installations, material and energy recovery processes applied to waste management and hydroelectric power installations. © 2019 WIT Press ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research was supported by the Municipality of Oppeano (Italy) and by Act 211 Government of the Russian Federation, contract № 02.A03.21.0006.

The paper presents the results of the analysis of the geo-chemo-mechanical data gathered through an innovative multidisciplinary investigation campaign in the Mar Piccolo basin, a heavily polluted marine bay aside the town of Taranto (Southern Italy). The basin is part of an area declared at high environmental risk by the Italian government. The cutting-edge approach to the environmental characterization of the site was promoted by the Special Commissioner for urgent measures of reclamation, environmental improvements and redevelopment of Taranto and involved experts from several research fields, who cooperated to gather a new insight into the origin, distribution, mobility and fate of the contaminants within the basin. The investigation campaign was designed to implement advanced research methodologies and testing strategies. Differently from traditional investigation campaigns, aimed solely at the assessment of the contamination state within sediments lying in the top layers, the new campaign provided an interpretation of the geo-chemo-mechanical properties and state of the sediments forming the deposit at the seafloor. The integrated, multidisciplinary and holistic approach, that considered geotechnical engineering, electrical and electronical engineering, geological, sedimentological, mineralogical, hydraulic engineering, hydrological, chemical, geochemical, biological fields, supported a comprehensive understanding of the influence of the contamination on the hydro-mechanical properties of the sediments, which need to be accounted for in the selection and design of the risk mitigation measures. The findings of the research represent the input ingredients of the conceptual model of the site, premise to model the evolutionary contamination scenarios within the basin, of guidance for the environmental risk management. The study testifies the importance of the cooperative approach among researchers of different fields to fulfil the interpretation of complex polluted eco-systems.