The trouble of alliances building as a policy recommendation

This paper offers a reflective account of two regeneration projects in small municipalities located in the provinces of Avellino and Caserta, in the mountainous hinterland of Campania (Southern Italy), funded by the European Recovery Fund. The initiatives aim to integrate local economic sectors—particularly wine, food, and craft production—within broader cultural and educational frameworks to counteract marginalisation and depopulation. The authors, both planners, engage communities through workshops, intergenerational encounters, and Living Labs to activate local synergies and support social cohesion. Yet, their fieldwork reveals the tensions between top-down policy requirements and the fragmented, mistrustful local realities where competition often outweighs cooperation. European directives mandate participatory practices and alliance-building, but in contexts marked by infrastructural and social isolation, genuine alliances struggle to emerge. Drawing on the concepts of weak ties and public space, the paper critiques the institutionalisation of participation and highlights the need for alliances to be voluntarily and endogenously generated. Rather than assuming shared intent, the authors argue for patient, situated work to foster recognition, shared desire, and mutual commitment—preconditions for durable, meaningful alliances. The projects demonstrate that in marginalised territories, regeneration cannot be imposed; it must emerge from within, rooted in everyday materiality and cultivated through careful facilitation beyond rhetorical frameworks.