Considering the Social Sustainability of Sardinia’s Rural Landscape: The Role of Local Identities

This paper originates from the presumption that in order to be sustainable, rural landscape must be the expression of cultural heritage and local identity. We consider the constraints and opportunities embedded in insularity per se, regarding Sardinia both as a whole territory and as a sum of diverse cultural zones. Local communities are not always able to fully express their individuality through landscapes. Our goal is to demonstrate how the community/landscape linkage should be structured by considering two theoretical approaches: that of Capabilities and Functionings by Sen (1985, 1986, 1993), and that coming from literature on Social Capital considering the institutional framework (North, 1994). The first approach aims to demonstrate how the choice of activating specific sets of functionings, making an area unique, is influenced by local culture; the second one demonstrates how social capital is crucial in the construction and preservation of local identities. Subsequently we analyzed interrelations between the above-mentioned approaches, focusing on some topics suggested in literature (e.g. Migheli, 2011). This theoretical framework can be used as a support in defining specific policy guidelines.