Conference Agenda

The 'Young Farmers' programme, part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), aims to keep young people in the agricultural profession but also to mitigate the problem of urbanisation and the ageing of the rural population. The present survey was conducted in 2024 to explore how young farmers in the North Aegean Region (Lemnos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria) in Greece perceive the concept of smart agriculture. Data was collected through questionnaires from 150 beneficiaries of Sub-measure 6.1 'Establishment of young farmers'. This study focuses on the farmers' ability to understand the concept of smart agriculture and highlights the potential challenges for promoting digital transformation in agriculture. IBM SPSS statistical software was used to analyze the dataset and explore the links between the positive impacts of smart agriculture, barriers to its implementation and the socio-economic status of farmers. The results showed that more than 50% considered the benefits of smart agriculture to be very important but also identified problems such as limited knowledge and high costs as barriers to adopting such practices.

The work develops a method for evaluating urban resilience by operationalizing the 15-Minute City concept. The methodology combines cluster analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify socio-demographic patterns and disparities in access to essential services and amenities across urban neighborhoods. By leveraging open-access and georeferenced data from OpenStreetMap (OSM), we compute density metrics for a wide range of services grouped into six key domains (Education, Healthcare, Public Transport, Commerce, Living/Sport, and Entertainment). The analysis, applied to Ancona—a mid-sized city in Central Italy—maps the distribution of target groups (e.g., elderly, foreign residents) and classifies urban areas into four distinct clusters based on socio-demographic characteristics. These clusters are further evaluated to reveal significant spatial inequalities in access to services.

Unlike most prior studies, our approach integrates socio-demographic data and systematically examines the functional diversity of neighborhoods. Additionally, statistical methods such as ANOVA provide robust evidence of spatial disparities across clusters, highlighting the need for targeted interventions. Our findings confirm that peripheral neighborhoods are underserved compared to central areas, which benefit from a well-connected public transport network and a richer mix of essential services and amenities. The article concludes by discussing the implications for urban planning and the potential of data-driven policies to foster inclusive and resilient urban development.

In recent decades, a substantial corpus of theoretical and empirical evidence has highlighted the contribution of arts and culture to health and well-being (Matarasso, 1997; WHO, 2019; Culture for Health, 2022). The cross-sectoral integrated model of Cultural Welfare (Treccani, 2020) has been recognised as a powerful catalyst for social innovation (Portales, 2019), promoting community and individual well-being, social cohesion, and more equitable societies.

This contribution explores the managerial dimension of strategic planning and evaluation of Cultural Welfare initiatives. Given the lack of an integrated model, we propose the Holistic Evaluation of Cultural Welfare Activities (HECWA) as a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder and multi-dimensional framework, grounded on a people-centred approach and informed by the Theory of Change (Rogers, 2014). Following previous literature (Garcia et al. 2010; Dunphy, 2015; SoPHIA, 2021), HECWA is structured along three axes: Time, People and Domains.

Drawing from reflections on the four pillars of social innovation − satisfaction of a need, innovation of the solution, change of social structures, increase of society’s capacity to act (Portales, 2019) −, this theoretical contribution underscores the nexus between culture and social transformation. The framework integrates diverse stakeholders’ perspectives, thereby fostering co-creation processes that enhance the sustainability and impact of Cultural Welfare initiatives. It highlights the role of governance in structuring innovative cross-sectoral partnerships and ensuring long-term societal benefits. This research contributes to the discourse on social innovation management by providing insights into practical strategies for embedding Cultural Welfare into policy frameworks, territorial development strategies, and strategic planning of cultural and creative organisations.

The x-minute city concept has emerged as an influential urban planning paradigm to address contemporary urban challenges through proximity-based development. This systematic review examines the theoretical foundations and implementation challenges of the x-minute city model, with a particular focus on the integration of participatory planning. Through systematic analysis of peer-reviewed publications and supplementary keyword analysis, this study investigates variations in the model's fundamental components and evaluates the extent to which participatory planning approaches are incorporated. Our findings reveal heterogeneity in how the concept's core components are interpreted and applied across different urban contexts. The analysis indicates variation in spatial analysis methods and limited integration of participatory planning methods, despite their potential to address implementation challenges. This research contributes to the evolving discourse on sustainable urban development by providing a critical analysis of the x-minute city concept and offering a structured approach for context-specific implementation and evaluation.