Retour aux marges : justice socio-environnementale et innovation sociale pour le développement durable des territoires ruraux

This contribution aims to understand how socio-environmental justice can be pursued in the development of rural areas. These territories are often characterized by various challenges, such as depopulation, lack of employment opportunities, infrastructures and services. However, these areas also characterized by the emergence of social innovations aimed at promoting a more just, equitable development. This development is based on local collaborations and the potential transformations linked to community dynamism. In order to offer a theoretical reflection on the intersections between socio-environmental justice and social innovations developed in rural areas, the first part of this contribution focuses on the concept of social and environmental justice and on the common conceptual paths between social innovation and sustainable development. The second part of the essay places this reflection in the context of rural areas, and in particular Italian rural areas, and their potential as privileged contexts for the creation of social innovations capable of responding in an innovative way to the principle of social and environmental justice by supporting sustainable local development processes.