The caENTI (Coordination Action of the European Network of Territorial Intelligence) has progressively defined territorial intelligence as the science having for object the sustainable development of territories and having for subject territorial community.
- It puts in relation multidisciplinary knowledge on territories and their dynamics
- It strengthens territorial communities abilities to take part in their development in a fair and sustainable way
- It improves territorial information sharing and spreads its analysis methods and tools thanks to Information and Communication Technologies
- It promotes governance, decision making processes and practices valuing participation and partnership and research-action that contribute to fair and sustainable development of the territorial community
To that end, territorial intelligence aims at providing tools made for, with and by territorial actors that allow them to elaborate, to manage and to evaluate partnership and participative projects of territories sustainable development.
Territorial intelligence, as it is defined by our research group, should also be able to design forms of promotion of the available resources development that, not only should not affect and should even increase the historical-environmental heritage, but should also conform to a culture which main objective is to increase public awareness of immaterial needs, apprehended as transnational ones.
One of these aspects, there is in the post-industrial societies, concerns the development concept. Indeed, we cannot define it in a unique way as a form of industrial production at a large scale, as it was done until a recent moment. This new concept, and here is the change, implies the convergence of the different forms of non material resources, and particularly of human resources. A culture that chooses non material values, especially concerning the artistic heritage and landscapes, feed the tourism sectors multiple dimensions.
Nevertheless, we do not consider economic development is useless and it is not necessary to keep the organizations that impacted on modernity, by making it integrate the importance of immaterial goods. However, we would like to underline the contribution of the immaterial resources to general development. In a scientific and formal way, we want to define the limit between sustainable development in a given socio-cultural area and the mere economic development.
The development of the cultural resources available on a territory should allow selecting and promoting those that meet a heterogeneous people needs, through the globalization various dimensions. At the same time, it allows the differences not becoming an obstacle to these needs affirmation, but on the contrary underlining a territory heritage.
Territorial intelligence should conciliate the post-material values with those of the industrial society culture, by supporting the territories resources development. This discipline recognizes the latter implicit qualities and uniqueness and makes their use attractive for the heterogeneous glocal societies.
This cultures kind, which main objective is to increase public awareness of development, should allow emancipating people from a vision only focused on available resources, by promoting the traditions that represent a territory peculiarities. Besides, if the consider the multiplicity of territories that make up a society, the latter should allow the expression of differences, which allow progressing.
As a consequence, action has a particular importance among the territorial intelligence competences. It favours a global development of the specific culture, which underlines the differences between the external and endogenous elements of a territory and does not give in to exclusion and separation temptations.
