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EURAC researcher presents role of mountain areas in post-pandemic world

08.05.2020

The role of rural and mountain areas in the post-COVID world was at the heart of a lecture given by Professor Andrea Membretti from Mountain Partnership member EURAC Research on 7 May 2020. The seminar session used a local lens to explore the structural changes, restrictions and new place-based policies that could emerge after the pandemic – focusing on the impacts on rural and mountain regions of Europe. 

Membretti is a senior researcher at EURAC Research, where he is the scientific coordinator of the research project “MATILDE”, a migration impact assessment to enhance integration and local development in European mountain and rural regions. His main field of study is migration to European and non-European mountain and rural territories in relation to climate change, local development, risk management and community resilience.  

Membretti virtually presented "Compulsion to locality? Mobility, proximity and the role of rural and mountain areas after the #Covid19 crisis" from isolation in the alpine region of Lombardy, Italy – the country’s region that has been most dramatically affected by the virus. 

The seminar took a territorial and social approach to the study of COVID-19’s impacts. Membretti argues that, in the wealthiest parts of the world – such as in Europe – many people will choose to be “sedentary by choice” following the loosening of social distancing measures. We can expect flows out of cities, whose anonymous crowds are potentially a source of risk. Those who are economically able will choose where they want to settle, which is likely to be in less populated zones like rural and mountain areas.

This creates opportunities for mountain areas to play a new role in post-pandemic life. The structural change imposed by the pandemic, together with decreased mobility, may give new societal importance to European regions such as the Alps or the Apennines. Rural and mountain areas’ low population density will facilitate social distancing health security, thus Membretti notes that we may see increased popularity in mountain “second homes”.

However, there are also challenges to consider. A point raised in discussion is that mountain areas must be protected from human pressures caused by mass immigration and/or mass tourism to these rural areas. Membretti states that a balance must be struck between these two needs: people’s desire to disperse and the need to protect mountain peoples and environments.

Photo from Andorra Turisme