Navigating Degrowth through Spatial Imaginaries in the Apennines: The Case of La Doganaccia winter station

This paper examines the negotiation of degrowth in specific territorial contexts. Focusing on La Doganaccia, a winter station in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, we explore conflicting narratives surrounding a proposed cable car project. Drawing on Watkins’ typology of spatial imaginaries, we analyze how actors invoke degrowth either to support infrastructural adaptation or to advocate for a rupture with tourism-led growth. Based on qualitative fieldwork, the study highlights the situated, contextualized and negotiated uses of degrowth in peripheral mountain areas. We finally argue that degrowth is best understood not as a fixed program but as a constellation of spatial imaginaries, revealing how regions navigate development amidst environmental and economic uncertainty