Advanced technology, new spatial dynamic and urban competition: a procedure for the evaluation of the Italian districts' competitive potential

The change of economic and productive paradigm on a global scale determined by impact of communication networks are re-launching the role of cities and regions from local to global scale. Global competition among cities induces new spatial dynamic, modifying the traditional territorial hierarchies and concentrating the management of economic, technological and cultural relationships in a few metropolitan areas. Basing on this assumption, this paper gives a contribution for setting up strategies targeted to the promotion of competitive take-off of Italian districts - considered as the most suitable unit of reference for this work - closely connected to the strategic resources of each district. In order to pursue this aim, the research work has been addressed to a twofold goal: - to identify the strategic resources which enable regions to gain a competitive advantage at different territorial levels (international, national, local); - to measure the potential of Italian districts in order to become active on the international, national and local competition scene. The main finding of the research work is a subdivision of the 95 Italian “districts” into five classes, related to their actual or potential role in the global, national or local competion