Researching in geography, it is possible to match science, theory and practice of the territorial development

By the access of new countries, European policies and directives are increased as well as national and regional ones, influencing territorial and spatial planning and modifing it for including common priority objective as cohesion, sustainability, competiveness, polycentrism, etc. From 1995 to 2003, the Italian geographical research has developed a new methodological theory able to assess the territorial sensitivity of policies and programmes; and since 2004 it includes the competitiveness and cohesion assessment (Prezioso, 1995; 2003; 2006; 2007; 2008; 2009, 2010). After an experimental period of texiting and critical review, this theoretical approach, called Sustainable Territorial environmental/economic Management Methodological Approach (STeMA), and its tool GIS, were discussed for supporting several European applied researches onto LIFE, ESPON, CADSIS, Cohesion, Lipsia Chart programmes. The paper goes back over the STeMA theoretical questions, focusing on scientific questions relative to the Territorial Impact Aassessment (TIA) and the Strategy Environmental Assessment (SEA) of regional policy making and European policy inclusion in planning choices for obtaining a cohesive and competitive development in sustainability in different target areas individuated at NUTs 1, 2, 3. In order to define this IV generation methodological protocol and its selected use of common scientific indicators, some words will be spent looking at the territorial diversity and testing it from the territorial point of view. The latter can be considered as the initial territorial capital or capacity building or sensitivity by which assessing impacts and effects (positive or negative) of integrated EU policies, to do endogenous corrections. Finally, in order to reduce these risks, the paper arrange those rules (governance) and those procedures/lows (compliance) to which the territorial government is due to, transferring new geographical address in planning culture, making subsidiary orientations, procedures, standards; they transform interests of investors, enterprise systems, interest-taken, citizen and citizenships on the "best practise” way.