• Sustainable rural-mountain development
• Human-environmental interactions
• Sustainable tourism
• Community engagement

Paola Menzardi obtained her PhD from the Polytechnic of Turin, in the field of design for territories and participatory territorial enhancement of peripheral areas and natural environments. Starting from tools and practices of co-design, she has probed strategies and criticalities of participatory processes of territorial regeneration in the medium-long term. During the PhD she took part to the participated project developed by some communities of the Val Grande National Park (VCO) for the sustainable tourist and cultural enhancement of their region. She holds a BA in Industrial Design and a MA in Systemic Design. Her interests focus on the practices of enhancing rural and mountain areas through the involvement of inhabitants, on the narration of cultural and intangible heritage, on tourism enhancement practices related to the local natural heritage of the territories. She works on European projects in the areas of cross-border governance in the Alps and the Carpathians, and management of the impacts of tourism in protected areas.