ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses deindustrialization from a regional perspective rather than from macroeconomic or metropolitan viewpoints. The management of the iron and steel crisis in Italy is a telling example of the difficult trade-offs that confront politicians and managers when declining industries in declining areas threaten to trigger a vicious cycle of deindustrialization. Accurate identification of prevailing conditions is essential to determine the strategies and the chances for a 're-industrialization' or 'revitalization' policy. Flexible automation technologies employed in discontinuous processes look particularly appropriate for the revitalization of mature production. The process of regional revitalization undertaken recently by Lombardia and Piemonte was based largely upon a revitalization process of their main metropolitan areas, Milano and Torino, respectively. Two other preconditions for revitalization may be found in the efficiency of the urban environment and in the general flexibility of the urban organizations, both public and private.
