Sustainable Development in Low-Density Territories: New Perspectives on Public Policy, Governance, and Innovation

Low-density territories face a complex set of interconnected challenges, including population decline, service retrenchment, demographic aging, economic stagnation, and increasing climate-related vulnerabilities. At the same time, these regions often possess considerable yet underutilized assets, such as natural resources, cultural heritage, strong social capital, and distinctive territorial identities. The effective mobilization of these resources depends on the capacity of public policy, governance frameworks, and place-based development strategies to foster sustainable growth and resilience. Addressing these issues requires a multidisciplinary perspective that integrates insights from economics, geography, sociology, environmental science, and tourism studies. Central to this approach are collaborative governance structures and active community engagement, which support the development of locally grounded and enduring solutions. Sustainable Development in Low-Density Territories: New Perspectives on Public Policy, Governance, and Innovation advances theoretical, methodological, and empirical knowledge on sustainable development in low-density territories, providing empirically grounded case studies on public policy design and evaluation alongside innovative governance models like decentralization and multi-level cooperation. By connecting place branding, territorial marketing, and innovation ecosystems with the socio-economic and environmental impacts of tourism, culture, and emerging forms of work, this book equips readers with analytical frameworks and indicators to assess territorial resilience and support evidence-based policymaking. Covering topics such as thermal tourism, ecological security, and demographic decline, this book is an excellent academic resource for graduate and doctoral students, local and regional government officials, economists, tourism and territorial marketing professionals, rural development NGOs, community organizations, regional planners, policymakers, and more.