Sardinia is an island located in the middle of the Mediterranean, land of a thousand facets, extremely varied in its entirety, with a beautiful environment, landscape and cultural history. Known more for its beaches and its crystal clear sea, this region has a fascinating hinterland and a history of inestimable value linked to craftsmanship and traditions. The island, however, is going through a period of profound crisis from an economic and demographic point of view. The forecast is for an important reduction of the population in the near future. This crisis is the result of a series of causes and involves different areas and aspects: an environmental, economic and social crisis, which makes the situation static, encouraging people to leave, and, consequently, a gradual depopulation. This is the starting point of a reflection and the involvement of four realities, coordinated by M. Cristina Zuddas, which were able to capture and share a project idea to be illustrted in the KIP Pavilion at Expo 2015. They started from an analysis, namely the need for a "recovery" of the territory that could lead to sustainable development and the creation of vibrant and dynamic economic circuits so that young people could choose to live this reality.

The protagonists of the project come from the public and private sectors. Lead partner, the Historical and Environmental Geo-mining Park of Sardinia, presented the immense geo-mineral area, unknown to many, with its potential and its projects to requalify the territory. Mining activities have shaped the landscape together with the ancient culture of the mining populations, creating an environment where the charm of history accompanies splendid examples of industrial archeology, with its underground worlds and in contact with nature. The Department of Tourism of the Municipality of Cagliari, which is working to make the city more attractive, showed its ambitious development strategies that will open up new scenarios of social and cultural change, planning and urban regeneration, thanks to the choice of virtuous channels of sustainability and innovation. Absolute protagonist was  the Associazione Internazionale Città della Terra Cruda (Sardinia as a land of centenarians) explained the longevity tied to healthy food, a sustainable living and the important role played by the sense of community (a notion that the frenzy of our times is making us forget). Lastly, the Euromed Mapping Consortium, which proposed a technology that allows a three-dimensional reconstruction of the urban centers with the greatest level of detail in a highly automated way, (an ideal tool to prepare recovery plans of city centers, site planning and promotion of the territory). It also illustrated a complex airborne multi-sensor system, which permits sources of pollution of the land to be identified, allowing for it to be recovered and redeveloped.

This ambitious project brought out several potentially innovative elements that could be further developed by the Region: the dynamism and innovation, related to historical themes and realities revisited with a modern take; the need to change approaches and methodologies to overcome the crisis, opening up to new scenarios that could create opportunities; the importance of a process of valorization and promotion that starts from the territory and opens to other similar and/or neighboring territories through territorial pacts; the exportability and reproducibility of projects and partnerships between territories that trigger virtuous processes and offer different possibilities to those who take part.

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