A clear planning strategy for the development of a community or a territory is a rare ingredient, and can be even more difficult to locate than funding.
Without a clear strategy, any investments made in human and financial resources may lack coordination and focus and may sometimes be distributed in a way that is typically the result of an approach characterized by underdevelopment or improper intermediation that cannot lead to significant and long-lasting results.
In order to develop a good development strategy we must firstly specify the main goal of the development project. Even in case of a "political" objective, set by the decision-makers involved, this must be verified and, if necessary, modified, based on a process focused on raising the awareness of and involving the local community, by firing up its energies and expectations.
In order to clearly identify the strengths and weaknesses of the area, an extremely close and detailed analysis is required, focusing in particular on the local social and productive system and the characteristics of the territory, its infrastructure, settlements, environment and landscape.
Therefore the approach adopted to pursue local development can be different according to whether it involves an economy- based development project designed for other local or international markets, or a local development project with a strong local component aimed to eradicate conditions of poverty and underdevelopment in the area.
Whether the project has an economic, social or cultural focus, and whether it is a progressive development project, rather than just focusing on the development of the domestic product, we must focus on two important elements: the specific social and cultural features of the communities involved, and the territorial, environmental and landscape features that also constitute a collective strategic resource and the fixed social assets that must be preserved for present and future generations.