The role of public services in the inner areas: from a problematic question to the definition of opportunities

The availability of public services is at the basis of the definition of inner areas in Italy. Inner areas in Italy are defined by SNAI as those territories located at more than 20 minutes’ driving distance from essential public services: education, health and mobility. This chapter deals with public services through different perspectives: from one angle, it looks at them as an element of defining marginal areas and discusses the tools needed to investigate what are essential needs and basic services; from the other angle, it explores both the different systems of governance needed to plan public services in the inner areas and the conditions and the instruments useful for designing services which may respond properly to citizenship needs in these specific contexts.