Retail desertification and commercial regeneration in urban spaces: a revision of concepts, dynamics and policy tools from Italy

The article focuses on the forms of retail desertification and on the solutions adopted to address it in Italy, largely identified with processes of regeneration, framing them within the economic restructuring of retail and the urban policies that have characterized the post-pandemic phase. The study, originating from an investigation initiated in 2024 and continued in the 2025–26 period with subsequent updates, is here systematized jointly reviewing conceptualizations, developments, and policy tools centered on retail, in order to understand which forms of desertification and commercial regeneration dominate academic studies and public debate on Italian urban spaces. After outlining the main phenomena affecting urban-commercial landscapes, several theorical perspectives from Italy will be developed, also drawing on previous studies and focusing on the “Italian-style retail apocalypse” and on the hypothesis of a “Retail-Less City”. The main dynamics underpinning these conceptualizations will be identified, presenting some updated results related to the explored concepts, and critically analysing the adopted urban-commercial tools. Finally, the attempt to verify whether an Italian path to urban-commercial regeneration exists will serve as the basis for a brief critical discussion, with the aim of drawing some more general conclusions in light of the Italian case.