Outcomes of international projects for sustainable development of riverside territories in transition

In recent years, under the pressure of phenomena such as spatial and economic shrinkage, as well as the uncontrolled development of tourism, areas situated alongside rivers have been going through a process of transition, affecting the existing societal and territorial structures. This is because the topographical characteristics of riverside territories generate an increased level of attraction for tourists, while also making it difficult for large corridors of economic development to integrate these regions. As expected, the process of transition is not always coherent and, as a result, it does not support territorial resilience. The lack of coherence comes from the fact that the simultaneous processes of contraction and growth follow different patterns and have a divergent impact on the built environment. Therefore, academia, administrations and local stakeholders alike have been struggling to create and implement feasible methodologies to obtain sustainable development at every level of governance. Among these, one can count international projects of cooperation, designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and resources, and therefore deliver specific operational tools that vary in scale and output. However, these do not always generate the expected results. Although significant from a quantitative perspective, the quality of the outcomes is difficult to measure. This study, therefore, follows a comparative analysis between three different types of tools defined by international projects: guidelines, action plans and interventions. The results of this analysis can further contribute to future international cooperation projects applications by improving the methodology and the criteria used to evaluate the process as a whole, as well as the outcomes themselves.