Accessibility, population ageing, and foreign presence: a first investigation across local heterogeneities in Italy

Accessibility plays a crucial role in the overall dynamics of local development. In this regard, the interplay between accessibility and population dynamics at the local level represents a new and understudied subject in academic research in Italy. The present contribution proposes a preliminary assessment of accessibility and its relationship with two of the most relevant demographic processes in Italy: population ageing and foreign presence. Using official data provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, we explore the spatial distribution of two indicators of land accessibility — the indexes of potential and real accessibility — and relate them to the spatial dis tribution of indexes on population ageing and foreign presence. In doing so, we use a local scale of analysis and a spatial approach, two crucial aspects in the definition of analytical tools useful for setting up place-based policies.