GEOGRAPHIES OF THE EARTH. Spatial design strategies for other Earth narratives

Local-global duality began to appear in scientific debate and on the media scene during the 1980s and became more established after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Since the 1990s, it has defined a complex, multi-scalar economic and social dynamic, which is still evolving. Initially, the local-global relationship had a predominantly economic dimension. The dissolution of the communist world removed the physical and virtual barriers to international trade, commerce and finance. The internationalisation of the markets, also driven by the digitisation of economic and social exchanges, has led to the progressive confrontation of consumer lifestyles, which in some cases have become heavily standardised despite initially being profoundly diverse. Globalisation has thus led to cultural and social uprooting and flattening behaviours. In counterpoint, on an evolutionary level, this has fuelled the gradual rediscovery of "the local" and the value (including the economic value) of the diversity and uniqueness of knowledge and its application in specific geo-economic contexts. "Location", with its own stratifications, historical complexities, cultural traditions, countless artistic and imaginative legacies, and centuries-old technical knowledge, has become a natural competitive resource on the global market and has triggered local development processes that leverage local networks' typical and unique characteristics.