Assessing Territorial Capabilities to Support Decision-Making: A Multi-sectoral and Cross-Scalar Governance Tool

Multi-sectoral and cross-scalar governance are essential for balancing development and sustainability among territories. Especially policies for fragile and peripheral territories require an overall understanding about different aspects that have an influence on their performances. Thus, the “Territorial Capital” is a key-concept that could help decision-makers understand and evaluate the current opportunities and challenges facing different territories and communities. In this paper we propose a tool for assessing various dimensions of territorial capital, including economic, sociocultural, infrastructural, and environmental elements. The different indicators and indices included in the tool are evaluated at the municipal scale and consider the existing interactions between territories that affect her capabilities. These data were implemented in a geographic information system (GIS) platform that allows users to analyze and visualize spatial and non-spatial data and information, and to obtain maps based on the Territorial Capital’ indicators. This comprehensive and systematic methodology is especially (but not only) useful for selecting the most appropriate interventions for peripheral and fragile areas. Thus, we present a case study referring a selection of project areas defined by the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI). The results show strengths and limitations of this approach for guiding policies and actions.