This article considers the smart village concept as a new instrument for creating European Union (EU) policies on a territorial microscale. The goal was to identify the key resources that determine successful implementation of smart strategies at the lowest territorial level, using the example of a suburban area in the Holy Cross Mountains (Świętokrzyskie Mountains) in Poland. The study examined how the local community implements the smart village concept and the extent to which this concept is useful in mountain and foothill areas, where problems caused by natural conditions particularly affect local communities. The intervention took place in Świętokrzyskie province, in the suburban village of Piaseczna Górka. It was assessed through a case study during which 15 individual in-depth interviews were conducted, focusing on several smart initiatives conducted in 2015–2020. The respondents represented 3 groups of stakeholders: initiators, beneficiaries, and local government. The study enabled the key resources of smart villages—human, financial, material, and information—to be identified. Human resources were the most important for the success of the initiatives under consideration, being the driving force for the other 3 resources. Uncovering the mechanisms involved in implementing smart initiatives on a microscale is becoming especially important as a tool in solving local problems, which in mountain areas are often determined by specific natural conditions. The smart village concept is set to be a major instrument of the EU's future financial framework for 2021–2027 and is reflected in a growing number of EU and national documents, including those concerning mountain and foothill areas with varied geographic locations and diverse socioeconomic characteristics.

This paper examines visitors' behaviors toward local food products when visiting a less favored mountain community in the Italian Alps. The aim of the study was to assess the role of local foodstuffs in fostering tourism in inner mountain areas. Primary data are based on 507 responses to an online questionnaire created with the Google Module platform. Participants' behaviors are analyzed with descriptive statistical tools, whereas their opinions on food services are analyzed using Kruskal–Wallis χ² and Mann–Whitney tests. Our evidence shows that although tourists are willing to taste and purchase local food products, the revenue for the local community appears to be limited, with an average expenditure of € 22.80/person (US$ 27.29/person), under a liberal spending scenario. Our research findings give original insights that can help local policymakers better understand how they can develop tourism through local food production.

Wild plants from seminatural habitats (meadows, pastures, shrubland, etc) provide numerous ecosystem services (ESs). However, because of land abandonment and reforestation processes, these habitats and the ESs provided by them are declining. The aim of this study was to identify how local people benefit from collecting wild plants from seminatural habitats, in order to link the identified ESs with conservation practices. The research was based on a survey of 85 inhabitants of the Pieniny Mountains (Poland). The results showed that 89% of respondents regularly collected wild plants from seminatural habitats for different reasons. The most common ESs gained from this activity were natural medicine, direct consumption, and food. Furthermore, particular species have crucial meaning for some ESs, such as direct consumption, food, natural medicine, and cosmetic purposes. For others, such as decoration, ritual purposes, or forage, only specific parts or types of plants, such as flowers, herbs, or grasses, are desirable, regardless of species. In terms of households, 38% used ESs from seminatural habitats as an additional source of livelihood. Promoting engagement in activities more adapted to the current economic situation (eg ecotourism and selling processed wild plant products) may be a good solution for using wild plants more profitably (serving as a basis for livelihood), combined with grassland conservation.

Sense of place and environmental problems have received increased attention in recent years; however, there is limited understanding of the dynamics of sense of place under gradual environmental changes. Using fieldwork and in-depth interviews, we explored the changes in rural residents' sense of place during the processes of ecological degradation and restoration in Huajiang Gorge, China. Our findings show that residents' sense of place is dynamic and complex. In the environmental degradation period, karst rocky desertification aggravated by human activities caused the slow spread of a negative sense of place; as rocky desertification governance developed, positive and negative or ambivalent feelings coexisted. We argue that the dimension of place dependence is the most sensitive to environmental change and affects farmers' sense of place positively or negatively, which may form a locked-in sense of place. Consideration of the dynamics and complex sense of place in karst rocky desertification governance could contribute to the effectiveness of decision-making and promote residents' wellbeing.

This paper presents a synthesis of the outcomes of sessions and recommendations for future research in mountain areas from the International Mountain Conference (IMC), held in Innsbruck, Austria, in September 2019. The thematic sections of the paper consider: first, the paleosciences, particularly archaeology; second, (bio)physical systems—the climate system, the cryo- and hydrosphere, and the biosphere—and their relationships with human systems; third, natural hazards and risks; and fourth, demographic and sociocultural trends, globalization (energy and transport networks, tourism, food supplies), policymaking, development, and research. Each section includes key literature relating to its theme, together with recommendations from the respective sessions. The paper concludes with a discussion and conclusions on the process of producing the synthesis, and its value for preparation and synthesis strategies for future conferences.

The sustainable development of mountain regions requires inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge. The Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research contributes to this global endeavor as part of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and as a member of international scientific networks, together with local partners and stakeholders. As a joint effort of individual researchers covering multiple fields, this article highlights our views on mountains as research objects, the phenomena we investigate as parts of entire mountain systems, and the synergies and differences of the disciplinary frames within which we work.