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Economic geography and local governance

Image of Economic geography and local governance
  • Sharing Behavior and Risk Attitudes in the Urban World
    Marco Percoco

    The research aims to study the influence of the sharing economy and of new information technologies on urban spaces. In particular, by focusing on the transport and housing markets, we investigate the way in which shared goods are actually used and the impact of the shared economy on traditional markets. Regarding the behavioral aspects, we investigate the relevance of the endowment effect (i.e. how consumer preferences in terms of risk attitude change depending on the ownership of the good or on the basis of their insurance merit class), of reference point (i.e. whether agents make decision with thresholds on income) and social interactions.

    We think that the sharing economy, by enlarging the size of rental markets, allows for a change in the traditional behavior of consumers, furthermore, by increasing competition in given markets it is also changing the structure of those markets.

    We  study the relationship between specific services often included in the definition of sharing economy and cities (defined not in terms of administrative boundaries, but in functional terms) along three main lines of research:

    1. Behavioral issues and risk attitudes.
    2. Impacts of the sharing economy on traditional sectors.
    3. Policy issues.


  • MAtchUP: Maximizing the Upscaling and replication potential of high level urban transformation strategies
    Edoardo Croci, Tania Molteni

    This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 774477. In this project, a set of cities –which have been selected as lighthouses– is undergoing pilots for transforming their energy (high performance districts and high ratio of RES) and mobility sectors (e-mobility solutions promotion from vehicles to logistics) with ambitious energy savings and CO2 emissions reduction objectives, supported by ICT solutions. These large-scale transformation strategies aims at being up-scaled and replicated.


  • Desertification, agriculture and urban expansion in the Mediterranean
    Marco Percoco, Maurizio Malpede

    The project has received funding from the Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Foundation. Climate change, soil vulnerability, biodiversity loss and growing anthropogenic pressure are putting the ecosystem of vast areas of Mediterranean countries at risk. The aim of the research project is to investigate a specific point of view of these threats, namely that of desertification and its interactions with the socio-economic system. In particular, the research will address how the vulnerability of soil to erosion and desertification phenomena is influenced not only by exogenous phenomena with respect to the location (for example, the rise of the seas as a result of global warming), but also by endogenous and local factors, and how this, in turn, influences the productivity of agricultural and manufacturing companies.


  • National Urban Agenda for Sustainable Development
    Edoardo CrociBenedetta Lucchitta

    The project aims to support the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection in the definition of a National Urban Agenda to foster sustainable development starting from the SDGs defined by the UN 2030 Agenda. Guidelines and policy indications will be developed to facilitate cities in the planning, implementation, and reporting of the goals of the local agendas.
    The project approach provides for the involvement of relevant stakeholders – national and local - and the support and training activities for Local Authorities.
    The project “National Urban Agenda for Sustainable Development” has been funded by the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea Protection, and it is coordinated by GREEN – Bocconi University (coordinators) that will work together with Roma Tre University, Urban@it (The National center for policy studies) and ASviS (The Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development). For more information, download the project brochure here (in Italian).