A methodological update proposal for measuring the degree of periphery from essential services in the classification of inner areas in Italy

In February 2022, the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning and Sustainable Development announced the update of the Italian Inner Areas map. In this update, the analysis tools were revised, returning more precise results, but both indicators and methodology did not change. This paper intends to present part of the key points of ongoing research that analyses the current methods and criteria for classifying Inner Areas. To develop a homogeneous territorial mapping tool, better suited to the purposes of territorial cohesion, the objective of the research is to define a new method of classification. The actual definition of Inner Areas corresponds with the “fragile territories” where the overall condition of difficulty is one of Italy's greatest criticalities. However, it would be a mistake to consider them as “weak”. The current classification distorts the reading of the territory simplifying social, economic, and environmental reading. Furthermore, it ignores essential services embedded in fundamental contexts. The main strategy proposes a new perspective no longer based on dependence on urban poles but on the distribution of resources. This article demonstrates the possibility of an update of the techniques for measuring accessibility to essential services by comparing the results of the current classification with the updated method, based on temporal isochrones, which considers the actual distribution of the population and of individual essential services.