Creative initiatives in small cities management: The landscape as an engine for local development

The model of a 'regenerative city' nowadays frequently advocated, implies the ability to revitalize relationships and bonds between inhabitants as well as between inhabitants and ecosystems. This model has recently been applied (in part) in some small cities in order to stop the degradation processes triggered by depopulation/ ageing, by trying to rebuild the local economy and to stimulate demand. Landscape quality is often regarded as a catalyst/engine of a new economic dynamic, and hence, as an important endogenous resource. The implementation of the model of a 'regenerative city' stimulates and multiplies circular relations, and next urban synergies and symbiosis, imitating the organization of natural systems' processes. Empirical evidence shows that many small cities are offering interesting practices based on a favourable social and human landscape. They are not only useful for their own revitalization, but also for the regeneration of larger cities, as they are moving towards the essence of sustainability, the 'spirit' of a unifying culture. There is a cultural potential still existing in small and 'slow' cities, namely circular relationships and bonds. This is a key message that small cities can offer to larger ones, for building a more sustainable future.