Silvia Cerisola is an Associate Professor of Regional and Urban Economics at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC), Politecnico di Milano. Her main research interest is in the impact of cultural heritage and creativity on regional and local economic development. She was awarded the 2018 "Giorgio Leonardi Best PhD Thesis Award" (Title: From Cultural Heritage to Development: The Role of Creativity) by the Italian Regional Science Association (AISRe) and the 2021 "William Alonso Memorial Prize for Innovative Work in Regional Science" by the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) for the book “Cultural Heritage, Creativity and Economic Development”, published by Edward Elgar. She has also been working on regional disparities and productivity within national and international research projects, and she has been the PI of a research project of national interest, financed by the European Union—Next Generation EU, titled “Towards Local Development Through a Sustainable Valorization of Cultural Heritage.”

Career

PhD in Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering with honors

Politecnico di Milano, Milan (Italy) Master of Science (MSc) in Economics and Social Science

Bocconi University, Milan (Italy) Bachelor’s degree (BA) in Management of Public Administrations and International Institutions

Bocconi University, Milan (Italy)

Research

Regional and local development; cultural heritage; creativity; regional inequality; productivity

Selected Publications

• Cerisola S. (2019) Cultural Heritage, Creativity and Economic Development, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Cerisola S. and E. Panzera (2025) Individual life-satisfaction across Italian regions: the role of socio-cultural environments and tourism, Journal of Cultural Economics, DOI:10.1007/s10824-025-09551-3.
• Cerisola, S., Panzera, E., & Canu, M. (2025). In Search of a Social Optimum in Tourism Flows: The Role of Cultural Heritage in Italian Municipalities. Journal of Travel Research, vol. 31(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875251342215.
• Camagni R., R. Capello, S. Cerisola, and U. Fratesi (2020) Fighting gravity: institutional changes and regional disparities in the EU, Economic Geography, DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2020.1717943.

Grants, awards and Honours

2018 "Giorgio Leonardi Best PhD Thesis Award" (Title: From Cultural Heritage to Development: The Role of Creativity) by the Italian Regional Science Association (AISRe)

2021 "William Alonso Memorial Prize for Innovative Work in Regional Science" by the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) for the book "Cultural Heritage, Creativity and Economic Development”, published by Edward Elgar

Community Service

Co-editor of Scienze Regionali—Italian Journal of Regional Science. Il Mulino (since July 2024)Member of the Politecnico UNESCO Chair in Architectural Preservation and Planning in Heritage Cities (since January 2024).