Culture, business and local development: a new soft power for Italy
Italy has a major competitive edge based not only on its unparalleled historic heritage but also on a deep-rooted tradition of knowhow that has long been a demonstration of a constant propensity for innovation
Aspen Collective Mind Seminar: Industrial processes, Cultural processes
At first glance, culture and technology may appear mutually exclusive categories, but that has not always been the case. The Italian Classical and Renaissance traditions were a continuous intermingling of humanism and science that only the twentieth century interrupted. Reuniting them to create a “polytechnic culture” could prove fundamental to confronting major changes, such as the digital and environmental transitions, that are now having a radical effect on daily life and habits and will continue to do so in the future.
Urban renewal: physical and psychological well-being in cities
The post-pandemic recovery, along with a rising awareness of the need for ecological and digital transitions, are speeding up urban renewal. Ongoing transformations are made more complex by the profound changes ushered in by new technologies and their pivotal importance during periods of social distancing. The most important of these is surely an exponential increase in the use of teleworking, which has altered urban geographies and set a new tipping point between real and virtual.
The future of the city: tomorrow is already yesterday
The health emergency of recent months has changed the needs of citizens, particularly as regards their way of living in cities and private homes. These changes have to do with multiple aspects of the urban environment. They can be traced to the influence of transversal themes that include the “green revolution”, digital development, new forms of socializing stemming from virus containment measures and changes in infrastructure.
Post-pandemic cities: urban development and hierarchies
Cities are an essential element in the history of humanity. First appearing approximately 10,000 years ago, they have survived an infinity of catastrophic events and managed to regroup and carry on developing. While the Covid pandemic is not the first event of its kind to affect that development, it does represent a turning point for urban areas by calling into question their role as the nerve centers of a global network.
Southern Italy: the key to relaunching the Italian economy?
Southern Italy needs a new vision for the future built on consideration of its system strongpoints and on a deeper scrutiny of its problems, with a view to identifying alternative proposals focused on the competitive capacity of those regions, with the goal of improving the business environment.
Smart Land: Can small towns and outlying areas be an option in the country’s pursuit of growth?
A return to life in small towns and outlying areas could offer a strategic opportunity for Italian post-pandemic economic recovery. Italy’s environmental and cultural heritage can become pivotal elements in the framework of long-term policies conceived in continuity with some ideas previously promoted at both national and local levels, with the aim of regulating the equilibrium between the economic development of cities, small towns and remote areas.
Future mobility: smart, innovative, sustainable
The Covid-19 emergency has forced millions of people into quarantine and has interrupted the ordinary flow of local and international traffic. The sudden emptying of urban spaces traditionally perceived as dense and congested is the most glaring evidence of the alteration in lifestyles and of the impact of thousands of city dwellers’ inevitable recourse to more streamlined and flexible work solutions.
A new start for post-pandemic tourism
The pandemic crisis now under way is only the latest chronologically since 9/11, the Arab Spring, the 2008 financial downturn and Brexit; not to mention climate change, which acts as a sort of umbrella for all recent emergencies.
The tourism industry: culture, environment, innovation, development
Globalization and technology have radically changed the tourism industry over the last decade. The processes of globalization have led to a dramatic increase in demand that has resulted in the two-fold effect of lower travel costs and increased connections that has made travel accessible to a growing number of people across the globe. At the same time, technology has made it possible for everyone to read and publish their reviews on where they have been in real time.
Innovation and growth: an agenda for tourism
(Italian version) Il turismo è una delle maggiori fonti di ricchezza per l’economia italiana che, non potendo fare affidamento su grandi risorse naturali, deve puntare sulla valorizzazione di quelle culturali e paesaggistiche accanto alle proprie capacità di trasformazione ed esportazione di beni. Il settore e il suo indotto contribuiscono al PIL per l’11,8% e all’occupazione per il 12,8%.
New citizens and the Italian Constitution’s values
Aspen Institute Italia’s aim in organizing this roundtable was to foster debate on the challenges involved in integrating foreigners into Italian society. By way of introduction, it was noted that, over the years, the number of foreign nationals permanently residing in Italy has grown steadily and is set to continue to rise, as will the number of immigrants acquiring Italian citizenship. In a very short space of time, Italy’s society has been transformed, in line with what has happened in other countries such as France and the United Kingdom, and can no longer be considered mono-ethnic.
Italian airport system: synergies, investment, attractiveness
The starting premise of discussions at this national roundtable was that the issue of air transport owes its considerable complexity to the sheer number of stakeholders involved. The interests and different perspectives of airport operators, airline companies, travelers, local authorities, and other competing and combined transport networks were seen as calling for a synergistic approach both on the part of these players themselves and of the State.
Art and democracy
Kick-starting discussions at this Talk-debate event was the observation that art and democracy are closely-intertwined expressions of humanity. Art has accompanied man since prehistoric times. The successions of cultures over the centuries have produced an artistic heritage that was an embodiment of their community and their founding values. It was suggested that the period in which the secular modernity of humanity made its greatest strides was undoubtedly the Renaissance, not only in the arts and aesthetics, but also in the technical and political realms.