Relative remote rural areas (RRRA)in developed regions: an analysis of the Emilia-Romagna region to support policy decision making.

This paper addresses the identification and the analysis of the remote rural areas (RRA) that should be at the center of future regional development policies for periphery areas in averagely highly developed territories, such as the Emilia-Romagna region. However, since none of the areas of the region can be defined lagging or underdeveloped when compared with the EU 25 countries, it is introduced the concept of “Relative” Remote Rural Area (RRRA) which partially could recall the semi-periphery in the theoretical scheme of Immanuel Wallestrein or the trasition area of Friedmann. Methodologically, the investigation is done both by using as a basis an intermediate geographical level that can be considered in line with the NUTS4 one: the SLL (Local Working Systems) identified by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), and by a NUTS5-level cluster analysis performed using a selection of indicators, which includes demographic, socio-economic, employment, agricultural, infrastructure and commuting patterns. This work led to the identification and mapping of a set of municipalities that show the higher remote & rural features of the region. The Province of Ferrara resulted the NUTS3 level with the highest RRRA. After a discussion upon the main characteristics of this areas, preliminary policy indications for these territories are given.