The role of social ties for culture-led development in inner areas. The case of the 2016–2017 Central Italy earthquake

During the past fifteen years, economic and managerial studies have devoted increasing attention to the role of cultural and creative industries, especially in promoting urban regeneration and local development in metropolitan areas. Less attention has been paid to culture-led development in marginal and fragile areas. Moreover, there is increasing policy and research interest in post-disaster resilience, and it is well known that rebuilding communities is even more important than physical reconstruction. This paper contributes to advance knowledge by interconnecting these research fields. We focus on inner areas and take as a specific object of analysis a wide area affected by the earthquakes that struck Central Italy between August 2016 and January 2017. Drawing on empirical data collected through semi-structured interviews with local cultural and tourism managers, we examine initiatives of horizontal and vertical cooperation that unfolded in the first two years after the earthquakes and we discuss issues and prospects of ‘adaptive resilience’ that may emerge thereinafter. We suggest that the wealth of bottom-up cultural experiences launched after the earthquake, and their high degree of inclusiveness can be considered as signs of the social capital that can sustain the post-earthquake economic recovery.