Countless people across the world live in places at risk of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. Natural disasters have, by definition, a territorial impact, damaging the physical capital of the places where they strike. Yet economic consequences go far beyond the affected area and require responses from regional and national resources, technical capacity and human organisation.

On 6 April 2009, Abruzzo was hit by a devastating earthquake centred in the regional capital, L’Aquila. As well as causing terrible personal suffering, including the death of 309 people, the earthquake was a significant economic shock, destroying the historical centre of L’Aquila, disrupting the social fabric, and jeopardising the long-term growth prospects of an already vulnerable region.

Abruzzo is a small region in Southern Italy. It has been experiencing substantial socioeconomic stagnation since the early 1990s and is struggling to recover from a devastating earthquake that hit its capital city of L’Aquila and the surrounding area in 2009. The region, close to and highly connected with Rome, has also been challenged by the ongoing economic crisis as well as by its demographics. This chapter looks at Abruzzo’s economic base and the impact of the 2009 earthquake on it. It asks how Abruzzo can regain competitiveness, in the context of the catastrophe and given the region’s territorial organisation and its administrative and institutional fragmentation.

In order for Abruzzo to implement an integrated regional development strategy, stakeholders will have to establish a common strategic vision. They will need to share objectives and information; agree on funding allocation and priorities; develop their own capacities; and be engaged in transparent decision making and evaluation. This chapter describes the governance challenges Abruzzo faces. It suggests three broad priorities for improving and supporting an integrated development strategy for the region. Abruzzo should reshape its territorial governance in order to reduce administrative fragmentation and strengthen the largest functional urban areas. It must provide local administrations with instruments to improve their organisational and planning capacity. And it must improve the transparency and accountability of policy making, including the dialogue between public and private stakeholders and the quality and use of public information.

This chapter considers the role of community engagement in improving decision making in a post-disaster region. It describes the difficulties experienced by L’Aquila after the 2009 earthquake and discusses some of the city’s recent initiatives to restore social cohesion and community engagement. The chapter also offers an overview of how L’Aquila’s citizens view the city’s future, as expressed in different participative events and a community survey undertaken during this study. The chapter concludes with recommendations on how to effectively engage communities in a post-disaster context, drawing not only on L’Aquila’s experience but those of other post-disaster regions as well.

This chapter discusses the factors that could help Abruzzo to maximise its long-term economic potential, despite the current global economic pressures. Abruzzo needs to rebuild its regional advantage based on the concept of an integrated regional platform, in order to upgrade technologies and foster a more diverse knowledge base. The chapter analyses regional bottlenecks to implementing an innovation strategy and offers solutions to increase connections between firms and between the universities and the business sector. The chapter also addresses the challenges Abruzzo faces in creating and retaining human capital in the region. Policies to improve the match between local demand for and supply of skills, including the intermediate-type skills widely sought by local SMEs, are suggested.

Abruzzo enjoys an extraordinary cultural heritage and benefits from exceptional environmental assets. This chapter suggests that these should be seen as important economic opportunities. Indeed, this territorial capital offers great potential for development if used intelligently. The chapter looks at the key elements needed to develop a strategic vision for tourism in Abruzzo and for promoting and expanding the use of natural and cultural resources. After reviewing Abruzzo’s history of leadership in natural conservation policies, the chapter discusses two main aspects of drawing benefits from this territorial capital: a market strategy for expanding the tourism offer and a sustainable infrastructure to improve the use of natural resources.

The chapter outlines four inter-related pillars around which to redevelop L’Aquila, on the basis of the city’s existing assets and potential. The first pillar, embodied in the smart city concept, relates to the use of new technologies to deliver innovative services for energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, health and information sharing. The second aspect looks at strengthening the role of the university and research centres to generate income and jobs. The third theme discusses how the reconstruction of the historical centre of L’Aquila could foster cultural life and commercial offering to creative investors and entrepreneurs. Finally, the fourth pillar looks at community engagement to improve the governance of the city and the quality of life of its community.

This report identifies specific policy recommendations and concrete options for Abruzzo to increase its resilience to future shocks. It also draws from the experiences in other OECD regions, either where natural disasters have caused the rethinking of the development model, or where long-term decline has forced such a rethink. These shared experiences can then provide valuable lessons on the types of policy and governance options for rebuilding a stronger, more resilient and more prosperous region over the long term.