Planning Wastescapes Through Collaborative Processes

The chapter is focused on collaborative processes through which the functions and spatial hierarchies of public or public use areas are redefined. The field of action is: on the one hand the urban metabolism, interpreted as a study of the life cycle of the city, including wastescapes; on the other, collaborative processes, aimed at defining the uses of tailored, place-based, and collective services. In this sense, the research moves from the analysis of places born for public use, but abandoned over time or never actually completed; disused places waiting to reenter the urban metabolism. Among those, there are also Italian “planning standards,” publicly designed in compliance with the quantities defined by law, and often partially used or not properly managed. The proposal of new uses and services for these contexts is based on criteria of flexibility, not fixed once and for all, not predetermined in time, but in progress in order to overcome the limits of the implementation of policies and programs of the past. These integrated processes can activate a dialogue between public institutions, privates, local associations and citizens’ groups. The research also intends to cross-reference the issue of spatial inequalities in access to spaces and services, with the evolution of the public actor from provider to service enabler, in a wider redefinition of welfare and welfare spaces concept, as an effect of global economic and financial crisis. The question needs non-sectoral responses, which take into account environmental, social, spatial issues. Welfare can no longer be provided as a self-sufficiency device: contextual services, for everyone, can be realized by recapitalizing wastescapes, co-creating “planning standards” through the recovery of degraded local contexts, collectively investing in the use and care of public, and open services. The paper will focus on: (a) the case of the former NATO area in Naples (in Bagnoli neighborhood) which is the subject of a Plan for urban renewal, adopted by the Municipality of Naples in 2020. The area, owned by a public company whose purpose is the assistance of children in the disadvantaged segment (Fondazione Campania Welfare), has been redesigned as a public facility on a metropolitan scale, within a public consultation process between the ownership, the Municipality of Naples and several local stakeholders (third sector organizations, citizens, cultural associations, etc.). As an effect of this collaborative process, the reuse of the area started before the adoption of the Plan; (b) the case of Horizon2020 research REPAiR in which the issue of circular economy applied to the recovery of wastescapes for public purposes has been investigated in living labs, working on waste perception and awareness as key factors for regenerating wastelands. The co-creation process partly resumed a strategy foreseen in 2013 by the Campania Region in the Plan of waste prevention, for the implementation of Integrated Centres for the reuse of durable goods, originally excluded by the Regional Waste Law

Reducing farming household vulnerability in connection to khat cultivation

This master thesis study was carried out in the area of Wondo Genet in Ethiopia from October 2005 to February 2006. The study is connected to the DOIT-AR project which is an interdisciplinary, action research project which aims at making local communities to primary clients of the research done within the Wondo Genet College of Forestry. The objective of the study was to better understand how farmers' livelihoods could be understood in the context of khat and how the vulnerability of khat growing farmers could be reduced. The study was connected to the DOIT-AR sub-project "Reducing Farming Household Vulnerability to Hardships as a Basis for Improving Livelihood – A Case Study in Gotu Onoma, Wondo Genet". Khat is a perennial shrub which leaves are chewed on for their stimulating effect. The use of khat is traditional among Muslims in east Ethiopia, but cultivation and chewing is now spreading to other parts of the country and the use of khat is also wide spread in the world. This case study was performed with the use of qualitative methods and an action research approach was used. The research is based entirely on interviews and is seen as a participatory process together with three farming families. Beside the three participating farmers, other interviews were performed in order to better understand the farmers' situation. Sources of vulnerability in connection to khat were identified and possible changes to improve the situation were discussed with the farmers. It was found that khat is a high and steady source of income and secures the livelihood of the farmers throughout the year. In terms of reduced vulnerability together with khat was also mentioned the positive effects of chewing as well as the soil-conservation character of the khat plant. Sources of farmers' vulnerability in connection to khat are; the relation with traders where farmers have an inferior position, the big problem with thieves on khat in the area with breakdown of social ties and a high work-load with watching the khat as outcomes, the more or less haphazard use of pesticides on khat as well as the negative effects of chewing. It is recommended that more research is done on health effects in connection to khat. An open approach from the government towards khat cultivation and chewing could open up the discussion on the issue, both on social effects and issues of health. More agricultural support, foremost with advice on pesticides could make a considerable difference for the farmers. A common platform between the farmers to meet the problems of thieves, to strengthen the position towards the traders and to learn about pesticides would probably reduce their vulnerability

Wastelands as an opportunity for managing Naples’ sustainable transition

Circular economy offers new visions of how diversely urban spaces could be inhabited and managed. While the generation and management of waste is being treated through innovative practices, disused industrial, rural, and infrastructural areas are resistant to becoming included in a closed-loop cycle. They, in fact, establish wastelands that need to be completely re-imagined as a precondition for the transition. The fact of shifting the definition of a ’neglected area’ into a ‘wasteland’, in line with the metaphor of urban metabolism, could be of tactical importance for generating alternative policies and practices. In exploring how the transition impacts Naples’ urban region, the paper argues that turning wastelands into resources has the double potential of rehabilitating spaces and challenging the governance model in use, overcoming barriers in multiple sectors

Urban Regions Shifting to Circular Economy: Understanding Challenges for New Ways of Governance

Urban areas account for around 50% of global solid waste generation. In the last decade, the European Union has supported numerous initiatives aiming at reducing waste generation by promoting shifts towards Circular Economy (CE) approaches. Governing this process has become imperative. This article focuses on the results of a governance analysis of six urban regions in Europe involved in the Horizon 2020 project REPAiR. By means of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and workshops with local stakeholders, for each urban area a list of governance challenges which hinder the necessary shift to circularity was drafted. In order to compare the six cases, the various challenges have been categorized using the PESTEL-O method. Results highlight a significant variation in policy contexts and the need for these to evolve by adapting stakeholders’ and policy-makers’ engagement and diffusing knowledge on CE. Common challenges among the six regions include a lack of an integrated guiding framework (both political and legal), limited awareness among citizens, and technological barriers. All these elements call for a multi-faceted governance approach able to embrace the complexity of the process and comprehensively address the various challenges to completing the shift towards circularity in cities

Quality of housing for inner areas between specialised supply, proximity welfare and production of new economies

This paper focuses on the issue of housing in inner areas, presenting a project of the candidacy of the Campania region for the PINQuA national funding programme, which was launched by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in 2020. The project is based on the hypothesis that it is possible to reverse the demographic trend in marginalised areas – characterised by a declining population, a high old-age index, a lack of basic services and, at the same time, a high potential for innovation – with building renovation and differentiated housing offers with high standards of quality and services. Through a systemic and place-based approach, the research uses pilot cases to experiment on themes linked to new housing demands, digital and green innovation, proximity welfare and social cohesion through a multi-actor and multi-level process