Sustainable Strategic Urban Planning: Methodology for Urban Renovation At District Level

Sustainable urban renovation is characterized by multiple factors (e.g. technical, socio-economic, environmental and ethical perspectives), different spatial scales and a number of administrative structures that should address the evaluation of alternative scenarios or solutions. This defines a complex decision problem that includes different stakeholders where several aspects need to be considered simultaneously. In spite of the knowledge and experiences during the recent years, there is a need of methods that lead the decision-making processes. In response, a methodology based on the global idea and implications of working towards a more sustainable and energy efficient cities as a holistic procedure for urban renovation at district level is proposed in the European Smart City project CITyFiED. The methodology has the energy efficiency as main pillar and the local authorities as client. It is composed of seven phases that ensures an effective dialogue among all the stakeholders, aiming to understand the objectives and needs of the city to define a set of Strategies for Sustainable Urban Renovation and their integration within the Strategic Urban Planning of the cities.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement N° 609129. The authors would like to thank the rest of the partners of the CITyFiED project for their help and support

Green Public Procurements (GPP) as an Instrument of Implementation of Sustainable Development. Analysis of the Experience of the Łódź Region Local Government

This paper discusses the situation on the Polish green public procurements (GPP) market, with special emphasis on the results of a GPPinfoNET project realised in the Łódź region. The identification of the main barriers hindering the application of GPP in the Polish practice is the departure point to formulating recommendations concerning organisational and legal changes which would make it possible to increase the share of GPP in the Polish economic practice. Implementation of green public procurement is considered as an important element of sustainable development.W artykule przedmiotem analizy jest sytuacja na polskim rynku zielonych zamówień publicznych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem efektów projektu GPPinfoNET realizowanego w regionie łódzkim. Punktem wyjścia do sformułowania rekomendacji dotyczących zmian organizacyjnych i prawnych służących popularyzacji ZZP jest identyfikacja głównych barier hamujących stosowanie takich zamówień w polskiej praktyce gospodarczej. Wdrażanie zielonych zamówień publicznych jest traktowane jako ważny element realizacji zrównoważonego rozwoju

Certification of public organic procurement in Denmark, Finland, Italy and Norway as compared to Germany

In the iPOPY project (innovative Public Organic food Procurement for Youth), one of the tasks was to map the challenges linked to the supply chains of organic food, and to which extent the participating countries have developed any form of certification of out-of-home food serving. For primary production and processing, regulations have been developed on the EU level. Norway, as a member of the EEA, is obliged to follow these EU regulations. However, the EU regulations on organic agriculture do not comprise catering, restaurants and other out-of-home food service. Hence, various countries have developed different systems to certify e.g. restaurants wanting to market their organic menus. This report describes the systems in Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway and Germany. Germany has been used as a reference, since this country is especially familiar to the first author of the report, Dr. Carola Strassner, due to former work and analyses. The report is based on information acquired from certification bodies and experts in each country by questionnaires communicated via e-mail, and subsequent telephone interviews. There is a great variation between the countries with respect to certification of (public) food serving. Denmark has a voluntarily system with a bronze, silver and gold medal assigned to increasing levels of organic food. Finland has no mandatory certification of public organic food serving, but a well developed voluntarily system with five levels assigning increasing shares of organic food. The system includes advice and a certificate to be used in marketing. In Italy, certification is not mandatory, but activities are going on to establish a voluntarily or mandatory system. In Norway and Germany, certification of public organic food serving is mandatory. The Italian experts interviewed welcomed future common standards in this field, whereas the other countries with better established systems did not see any need for change. With respect to school food service, certification of the organic food will imply some additional work. However, a certification will contribute to increase people‘s trust in the food service, and also inform the users and thereby communicate the efforts to increase the consumption of organic food

The procurement of professional planning services for roading projects under a competitive pricing regime : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Resource and Environmental Planning at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The introduction of the Transit New Zealand Act changed the provisions for purchasing professional services for the development of roading projects. This change was consistent with the wider shift of the public sector towards greater transparency and accountability, and the separation of the roles of the funder, purchaser and provider of government services. The Act states that all professional services contracts for the development of roading projects are to be contracted out to the private sector by tender, with the selection of consultant determined by a Competitive Pricing Procedure (CPP). This study has been undertaken as a preliminary assessment of the factors that influence the implementation of competitive tendering for professional services and its impact on planning practice in New Zealand. The study is based on a literature review and original research. Surveys were undertaken with representatives from both the consultants and tendering authorities with experience in CPP, to obtain their views on different aspects of the tendering procedures adopted by Transfund New Zealand. Follow up interviews were also carried out with key representatives involved in the market to identify their responses to the survey results. It is concluded that there are significant differences in perception of the effectiveness of the implementation of the CPP between suppliers and purchasers, particularly with the planning services associated with roading projects. Consultants consider that they must put in the most competitive price in order to win a contract. This, they believe, compromises the quality of planning services by limiting the number of interested and affected parties that can be consulted, by favouring the simplest method of evaluation of environmental effects, and by discouraging the use of the best people for the job

Assessing Value for Money in PFI Projects: A Comparative Study of Practices in the UK and Italy

The Value for Money assessment is a critical process in procuring a Private Finance Initiative and it requires accurate ex-ante performance measurement methodologies. The British Government has set new requirements for evaluating VFM through a new assessment model composed of three main stages, namely: programme level assessment, project level assessment, and procurement level assessment. The objective of the new model for VFM assessment is to change the costly, inflexible and opaque side of PFIs in order to deliver cost-effective and improve the quality of public service provision. A theoretical analysis of the implementation of PFI shows the UK as the leading user of this procurement in Europe and Italy is the second. However, there is a disparity in the manner PFI is actually implemented in these two countries and especially how VFM is assessed. Aiming at underlying the best practices of this evaluation process for the most achievable VFM, this paper presents the new VFM assessment model of the UK and a suggestion for its potential application to the Italian PFI procurement process to improve outcomes therei

What factors influence the uptake of GPP (Green Public Procurement) practices? New evidence from an Italian survey

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is becoming a cornerstone of environmental policies both at European Union and Member State level. Drawing upon a database of public authorities located in three Italian Regions, this paper assesses the determinants and drawbacks of green procurement adoption. In particular, using an econometrical approach we tested the following propositions: i) the existing awareness on GPP practices, tools and regulations does support public authorities to develop GPP strategies; (ii) the support of external experts in purchasing function does support public authorities to develop GPP practices; (iii) the small dimension of public authority is an obstacle to adopting GPP practices; (iv) ISO 14001 certified public authorities are more likely to develop GPP practices. The econometric analysis shows that the dimension of public authorities and the level of awareness of the existing tools for supporting GPP have a positive and significant effect on the probability that they adopt GPP practices.green public procurement, local authorities, ISO 14001, environment.