The contractual communities' contribution to cultural and natural resource management

Defined as voluntary territory-based organisational forms (i.e. tied to a specific tract of land) by which members join on the basis of a contract unanimously underwritten, and in light of the benefits it will guarantee them, the contractual communities can foresee actions to revitalisation and enhance the landscape. This type of civic associationism comprises various types of ‘voluntary social forms’ capable of realising and managing collective territorial resources, placing the rediscovery of ethical, individual and collective values by the members of a community at the centre of their action. This contribution proposes some recent experimentation, at national and international level, of forms of voluntary association of citizenship, with a view to recognising the contribution for the triggering of new actions of active conservation of the landscape. The perspective of research is that of highlighting the elements of innovation within a new model of governance inspired by the principle of horizontal subsidiarity. In conclusion, themes and matters to develop in order to innovate landscape planning will be proposed.