Abstract

The paper proposes the territory as the fourth dimension of sustainable development Research starting from three dimensions of sustainable development - economic social environmental - highlights the difference between the spatial approach and the territorial approach in sustainable development practices The paper shows that to include in the development approach the morphological hilly mountain plain functional metropolitan or non-metropolitan city cross border region traditional port city financial city industrial city government National strategy special laws etc governance formal and not formal network institutional noninstitutional body aspects leads to different development results than not including them This evidence shows to distinguish development practices from sustainable development practices as emerged from recent Territorial Impact Assessment studies in which policies through the territorialization of the results guide planning actions local planning actions selected on general policy objectives create the conditions for adaptation about planning and mitigation about policies of human actions on the environment thus being able to speak of sustainable development