Participation process in regional development: DIAMONT's perspective

This publication deals with an important section of DIAMONT activities, conceived as a substantial closing and a test of the preceding expert work: the implementation of specific participatory processes in the involved countries. The idea is to establish a "Confrontation between Theory and Practice", aiming to submit a number of identified instruments for sustainable development to local stakeholders'scrutiny in selected Alpine test regions, and hence develop suitable and shared resolution strategies to highlighted problems. Two workshops per test region have represented the basic tool used to host stakeholders discussion and gain practical feedback on theoretical analyses. Six test regions have been delimited folowing broad common criteria - basically functional - for grouping together a number of municipalities. Two of these are located in Germany (Immenstadt-Sonthofen and Traunstein-Traunreut)and one in each of the following countries: Austria (Waidhofen/Ybbs), France (Gap), Italy (Tolmezzo) and Slovenia (Idrija). The workshops have shown that one shared crucial issue underlies strong regional specificity: the ability to manage the local assets in order to effectively address the challenges posed by ever-evolving competition between the regions. This includes working in the correct spatial, temporal and institutional perspective, as well as strenghtening cultural and social identity through cooperation and public participation to decision-making.