Cohesion Policies in Italian Metropolitan Cities. Evaluation and Challenges

The 2014–2020 European programming is coming to an end with numerous critical issues that will have to be resolved by 2023, both with reference to spending power and with reference to performance evaluation. The European institutions are currently in the process of drafting the new Cohesion Policy 2021–2027, which will respond to the difficulties encountered in the previous programming through three key rules: simplicity, flexibility, efficiency and transparent administrative processes. The ambition of the new programming is to make the countries of the European Union smart, sustainable and increasingly inclusive economies. Three priorities that mutually reinforce each other to help achieve high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion in the Member States. In this context, the present study intends to evaluate the “smart specialization” (S3 strategy) deriving from the 11 thematic objectives (or sectors of intervention), in particular that of the “environment”, in the 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 periods, through the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), thus identifying areas of intelligent specialization