Caratteri identitari della linea di costa per uno sviluppo sostenibile e resiliente delle filiere economiche locali

Coastal areas are physical transition zones between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, connecting the wild space of the sea with the terrestrial habitats. These areas are complex systems. Their importance has widely recognised in literature, as well as their vulnerability. Natural and built environments are strongly intertwined so that coastal landscape (somehow) tells us about the history of the place in which human uses have continuously interacted with nature (through economic, cultural and social activities) that have been layered up, testifying the evolution of forms, processes, flows, func- tions, uses, cultures, generation and ethics. In such perspective, coastal areas correspond to a sort of ecological memory of the place, by which we recognize signatures of the local identity mostly consistent with both the environment specific and the prevalent use, as well as the economic and social values expressed by local commu- nities . The human modification of the shoreline also produced outstanding landscapes and settlements, riches in history, architecture worth and landmarks that nowadays represent an effective opportunity for developing such areas in a sustainable way thanks to its unique genius loci . The paper deals with the opportunity of a knowledge-oriented approach to the preservation of coastal areas and its identifiable el- ements (natural and artificial) by the aim of promoting local re- silience even by the implementing of ecosystem services. Developed by the CNR-IRiSS-DiARC group, the paper states the cultural assumption for achieving more sustainable coastal redevelopment in the case study of the Sorrento Peninsula, Naples, Italy, moving from the statement that the Sorrento landscape can be considered an example of the former integration between human needs and the instances of safeguarding natural resources that becomes "cultural" insofar it generates specific building typologies and morphologies. The study also underlines the potential of such area toward more sustainable adaptation using the cultural tools of integrate gover- nance at cross-scale (planning and design). These strategies could favor material goods (natural and anthropic system) and immaterial goods (social and economic system) for enhancing local resilience and reducing vulnerability in face at climate change and human actions, through public and private stakeholders participation in order to a sustainable, inclusive and smart development, according to EU strategy 2020.