Demographic dynamics, economic expansion and settlement dispersion in Southern Europe. Contrasting patterns of growth and change in three metropolitan region

Settlement densification and scattering are two processes through which cities evolved. Becoming a multidisciplinary research issue, urban sprawl is among the major concerns in developed and emerging countries for its negative impacts on socio-environmental complex systems. Sprawl varies at the regional scale, following different characteristics, dynamics, effects and consequences. Consequently, converging on a unique definition for sprawl is made even more difficult when patterns and processes of urbanization in various countries and regions are considered together. Our study aims at deriving a comprehensive interpretation of urban scattering based on a narrative analysis of recent expansion paths in three metropolitan cities of southern Europe (Barcelona, Istanbul, Naples) in terms of density traits, spatial forms, socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Compared to past urban trajectories, recent processes of urban expansion produced inherent changes in the density gradient, requiring specific actions of urban containment

Aspects of Land Take in the Metropolitan Area of Naples

Land take is a phenomenon of great concern nowadays because of the large number of its negative impacts regarding biological, economic and social balance. In Italy, the development of urban and other artificial land has been irreversibly transforming a nonrenewable resource such as soil, regardless the almost constant population rate, with different speed depending of the region considered. The aim of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon in the metropolitan area of Naples, which is an area highly affected by territorial aggression of human matrix. The data used are both by the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) Report 2015 on the usage of the land and by ISTAT relating to the resident population up to the 1st of January 2015 and the extension of land for agricultural use (Census 2010). The mathematical combination of this data creates a new indicator that can be referred to as “residual land”; this residual area is of great extension with many different characteristics and it could represent the area where the phenomenon of land take most occurs. The identification, measurement and analysis of “residual land” provide new insights on the evolution of land take and this new indicator can represent a critical element to work on to prevent future land transformation and protect natural and agricultural areas within the Italian context

Chapter Domitian Coast. Rehabilitation’ outlooks of the Northern coast of Campania

Object of the paper is the Domitian Coast, belonging to the North-West of Campania Region, characterized by contrasting factors. The fertility of the soil and the considerable length of an easily accessible and available coastline are threatened by an indiscriminate exploitation of the ground for anthropogenic uses. The paper analyses the Domitian territory and the issues characterizing this particular area on the basis of three categories of elements. The second part indicates the possible intervention policies set up to redevelop this territory

Ecological planning strategies for a qualitative land take. Suggestions from France to Italian approach

This research starts from the awareness that land take is continuously spreading and increasing all over Europe. The topics of land take and its containment have also quickly entered into European policies and many European countries followed this path. Land take is often interpreted as a negative element as it subtracts important soil functions and, sometimes, spoils landscape. Urban and regional planning can play an important and leading role in contrasting land take, as they can address specific orientations for the realization of qualitative urban and landscape projects. One of the aims of this research is then to understand which planning policies are the most suitable in contrasting and containing land take. In order to do this, in a perspective of sustainable development, the chosen approach to planning is the ecological one (Steiner, 2002). Following this approach, the research focuses on the policies of Green Infrastructures (GI), intended as one of the most suitable and effective policies for land take containment. The study, starting from the analysis of 5 different European countries’ planning policies, tools and systems (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and the Netherlands), focuses on the countries of France and Italy. The two countries present a varied situation for what concern GI approach and planning policies even if they share some common elements (for example, the high presence of small municipalities and the institutional fragmentation). Since the choice has fallen on GI, the study aims at framing how these two countries are dealing with them by highlighting for each of them the pros and cons. In particular, the research focuses on the policies developed by two Regions: on one side the one of Rhône-Alpes in France (focusing on the two Métropoles of Lyon and Grenoble) and on the other side the one of Piedmont in Italy (in particular, the Metropolitan City of Turin). France represents a fascinating case study in the analysis of environmental and ecological policies; indeed, since the promulgation of Grenelle laws in 2009 and 2010 which stated the creation of Trames Vertes et Bleues (TVB), France has been laying great emphasis on these issues. This policy represents one of the greatest examples for what concerns GI. In fact, they are characterized by some important elements: they have to be included in planning tools of different scales (from the regional to the local one) and they include both green and blue infrastructures. French TVB allow also to develop a project approach of GI, while the Italian case study sets up itself as more methodological. In addition to ecological strategies, France has also always led an important process of inter-municipality, leading thus to a more coherent territorial project. The experiences led by Piedmont Region, principally developed at a local scale, present indeed a less rationalised policy even if the Metropolitan City of Turin has attempted to establish some specific orientations for the creation of a common GI methodology. Each local experimentation shows how these orientations have been interpreted in order to fit different territorial characteristics. The final aim is the individuation of some operational criteria for a qualitative planning. The main elements of discussion are the integration of GI into planning tools and the necessity to overcome administrative borders in order to promote a more coordinated and shared project of development. The research then opens the path to some other issues: the introduction of an adequate fiscal system, a more operative project action, territorial equalization and a performance-based planning instead of traditional zoning

ESPON SUPER – Sustainable Urbanisation and land-use Practices in European Regions. A GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION AND LAND-USE

Guides help you do things. You turn to them when you need to find out how to solve a problem. They are a form of knowledge transfer, written by experts in a way that is accessible and helpful to a wide audience. This guide was written by the researchers engaged in the ESPON 2020 applied research project on Sustainable Urbanisation and Land-Use Practices in European Regions (SUPER). It aims to help people and institutions engaged with land-use management at various levels across Europe to promote sustainable urbanisation in their territories. Overall, the guide offers information, ideas and perspectives to help decision-makers and policymakers to proactively contribute to more equal, balanced, and sustainable territorial development. The decision to convert land to a different use influences our quality of life and that of future generations, and, as this Guide shows, a large toolbox of interventions exists that can help alter prevailing land-use practices. Choosing among them is a tough decision, and implementation may require strong political commitment and bold leadership. We hope that this Guide provides the inspiration to accept this challenge

Resilience Through Community Landscape Project

The evolutionary process for landscape conservation, planning and management should consider the local (bottom –up) contribution connected to the emerging and rapidly growing models related to social self-organisation and local and community activism in the management of public goods (co-management models). But key issues for landscape resilience are: developing decisional models and integration between self community and planned actions.The case studies considers instead issues for developing a resilient landscape system: management of green areas, ways of enhancing green infrastructure linking rural and urban context, urban agriculture, innovative and inclusive management, urban landscape design, biodiversity and food security, identity valorisation, public and private initiatives linked in coherent strategie

Resilient landscapes for cities of the future

Cities of the 21st century must face several major challenges, which range from overcoming risks due to climate change (closely connected to progressively developing ecological imbalances) to the search for better energy conservation in the urban machine; from improvement in the quality and quantity of open spaces to returning residual areas (neglected areas, urban remnants, etc.) to the city. Thus far, there has been a lack of global solutions to improve the vulnerability of our cities or counteract external stresses that cities face now and will face even more in the coming decades. Faced with these profound changes, the rationalistic urban vision is no longer current. It is based on the mono- functional division of human activities and has led to the definition of plans and projects that are neither very effective in managing urban and territorial phenomena nor very adaptable in terms of external shocks caused by sudden climate, ecological, and economic changes. Today approaches that produce resilient landscapes are imposed on the city and territory through policies, plans, and projects characterized by imprinting flexibility (self-regulating, dynamic instruments in continual evolution), retroactivity (multi -scale, incremental, cumulative instruments), and ecological sustainability (adaptable, qualitative and recyclable, compensatory instruments). Resilient urban landscapes will be indicators of the good health of the territory, the effect of policies, plans, and projects centred on the protection and development of natural cycles, the liveability of cities, sustainable mobility, territorial culture and identity, safety, and the health of people. In this edition of UNISCAPE En-Route, we use the Adriatic City as an important terrain to observe and confront factors of the crisis in the modern city and its landscape. Studying the Adriatic City allows possible exit strategies from the model of the rationalistic city to be proposed in search of new forms of more sustainable urban development aimed at improving the quality of life for people in Europe. The principal longitudinal development of the Adriatic settlement system, essentially due to the concentration of the main economic activities (tourism, industry, specialized agriculture) following the main infrastructures along the coast (all in a north-south direction), has generated a series of conflicts in the last fifty years that emerge today in all their criticality. Important environmental and landscape criticalities can be observed (the process of artificialization constitutes an ecological and aesthetic/perceptual barrier between the sea and inland areas) along with the loss of historic and socioeconomic links that once determined continuity (also functional) between the coast and inland areas. Ever more often the theme of coastal artificialization places huge problems in the safety of dwellings against the catastrophic effects of climate change; industrial decommissioning and the housing bubble represent the main effects of the current economic crisis. Due to the loss of identity in built and natural landscapes in Adriatic territories, intervention policies and experimental projects are being developed that place the objective of responding to precise logic of improving the landscape, anthropic, cultural, and productive identity of each territorial reality through the activation of development processes that do not present negative effects related to the constituent elements of such identities. Starting from the Adriatic case study, this international seminar will confront the policies, plans, and projects of European cities and territories in order to affirm a new development model that produces resilient landscapes via: - overcoming the mere conservation of the landscape, considering its evolutionary processes and the need to connect policies for the conservation of goods and natural and cultural resources with plans and projects for territorial transformation; - social participation in landscape management processes, since resilience is a process that cannot be completely planned and designed, but must be pursued by directing voluntary actions; - the consolidation of new urban and territorial governance, aimed at integrating the different scales of territorial and landscape government; - institutional and social flexibility to adapt policies, projects, and actions to innovative socioeconomic and landscape processes (also by activating synergies between local public and private resources)

Neighbourhoods in Transition

This open access book is focused on the intersection between urban brownfields and the sustainability transitions of metreopolitan areas, cities and neighbourhoods. It provides both a theoretical and practical approach to the topic, offering a thorough introduction to urban brownfields and regeneration projects as well as an operational monitoring tool. Neighbourhoods in Transition begins with an overview of historic urban development and strategic areas in the hearts of towns to be developed. It then defines several key issues related to the topic, including urban brownfields, regeneration projects, and sustainability issues related to neighbourhood development. The second part of this book is focused on support tools, explaining the challenges faced, the steps involved in a regeneration process, and offering an operational monitoring tool. It applies the unique tool to case studies in three selected neighbourhoods and the outcomes of one case study are also presented and discussed, highlighting its benefits. The audience for this book will be both professional and academic. It will support researchers as an up-to-date reference book on urban brownfield regeneration projects, and also the work of architects, urban designers, urban planners and engineers involved in sustainability transitions of the built environment

Valuing Environmental Decay : Quantitative Policy-oriented Studies on Urban and Rural Environments

By filling the gaps in research, the studies described in this thesis focus on a number of open policy issues in the context of urban and rural environments. With a retrospective look at the process of economic valuation and its integration within environmental decision making, this thesis brings us from the theory to the empirics of valuation, in order to provide methodological innovation based on experimentation. Firstly, the thesis refers to the wide- ranging impacts caused by urban mobility, and focuses on two challenging open issues. On one side, it introduces the problem of noise pollution due to rail transport infrastructure; while, on the other side, it looks at the phenomenon of urban “sprawl” and at its implications in terms of collective impacts. Next, it presents the research challenges that valuation can address when looking at the impacts and risks of agriculture on ecosystems and human health. In this connection, it identifies pesticide risk valuation as a relevant research area.Nijkamp, P. [Promotor]Camagni, R. [Copromotor]Florax, R.J.G.M. [Copromotor