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 Faced with these profound changes, the rationalistic urban vision is no longer current.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)

Strategies and Actions to Recover the Landscape after Flooding: The Case of Vernazza in the Cinque Terre National Park (Italy)

European territories are fragile places in which landslides and flooding have occurred with a high frequency in recent decades, risking the safety of settlements and people and the integrity of the landscape. In many cases, recourse has been made to geotechnical and hydraulic interventions that have been rather non-uniform and partial and which, in prestigious areas, have made intervention after the fact problematic in recovering/mitigating what was done with extreme urgency. This paper reports on theoretical/applied research that implements methodological, multi-system experimentation and interdisciplinary skills for a project to recover the landscape within the Cinque Terre National Park (World Heritage Site, Italy). This recovery is capable of responding to the demand for protection, conservation, transformation and management of this cultural landscape par excellence. The methodological approach, the results of the research and the planning solutions span two scales—territorial and local—thereby highlighting the need for an approach to both microand macro-scale knowledge of the cultural landscape system to understand its structure and elements and to intervene with the proper planning sensitivity. Guidelines, masterplans and profiles of the types of intervention constitute the large- and small-scale results of the research, translating the strategies of the guidelines into planning actions

Urban Guidelines and Strategic Plan for a UNESCO World Heritage Candidate Site: The Historical Centre of Sharjah (UAE)

This paper presents the results of theoretical and applied research that employs methodological experimentation in a project for the protection and integrated transformation of the downtown area of the city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The particular nature of this case relates to two factors: (a) strategies and policies to protect and enhance the cultural heritage as a driver for tourism and the cultural development of the entire Emirate, from archaeological goods to the urban fabrics in historical centres (Sharjah and Korfakkhan), in contrast to the surrounding Emirates; and (b) the client’s request to define guidelines to manage the urban cultural heritage during a time of transition while awaiting the results of UNESCO candidacy. This unique fact denotes a sensitivity and long-term policies regarding the cultural heritage which views the recovery of the urban historical heritage, assuming the cultural component as the fourth dimension of sustainability. The methodological approach, the results of the research, and design are organized on the dual urban and building scale to understand the structure and elements of the historical centre. The actions and interventions are differentiated with respect to urban fabric, building, archaeological good, and landscape, and translate the strategies of the guidelines into short-/mid-/long-term design actions

Local Climate Adaptation and Governance: The Utility of Joint SECAP Plans for Networks of Small–Medium Italian Municipalities

The “Joint Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans” (Joint SECAPs) introduced by the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) are voluntary tools that favour a joint approach to energy planning and climate change mitigation/adaptation among municipalities in the same territorial area. The goal is to obtain joint results that are more effective and advantageous than those that can be achieved by the individual municipalities with respect to local climate change adaptation and mitigation policies. This article assesses their effectiveness in Italy. Six different experiences conducted mostly in small and medium municipal networks are compared, verifying the advantages and critical points in the different phases of building and implementing adaptation measures. A list of recommendations/objectives emerges from these experiences to guide the joint construction of adaptation measures, which may be implemented through multi-level participatory governance that encourages experimentation and innovation on the local level and develops synergy with large-scale policies and plans

DOCUMENTO D’INQUADRAMENTO PER L’ATTUAZIONE DEI PROGRAMMI UNITARI D’INTERVENTO (PUI) - COMUNE DI TERAMO

Attività di consulenza per la redazione di un regolamento per governare le convenienze pubblico-privato nella redazione dei Programmi Unitari d'Intervento e i Programmi di Recupero Urbano nel Comune di Teramo

Learning from Experience to Build Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) in the Central Adriatic City (Italy) under the Life+A_GreeNet Project

In Europe, the implementation of urban green infrastructure (UGI) in spatial planning remains slow, although the economic/financial limits of the past have been overcome due to the recent investment priorities established by the Structural Funds and Next Generation EU. The difficulties of integrating UGI in spatial planning regard the limits of researchers’ theoretical approach and the unpreparedness of territories, administrations, and technicians. The Life+ A_GreeNet project aims to overcome these critical points. Several European and national experiences in implementing UGIs are investigated to assess their transferability into techniques and local and large-scale spatial planning tools in the Central Adriatic of Italy through a phase of interaction, learning and listening among local administrations (decision makers and technicians). The objectives shared among various local players are thereby identified. These involve regenerating settlement and environmental systems and beginning to interact on problems and possible solutions that, overcoming administrative limits, regard an entire territory. A framework of commitments for local and large-scale planning therefore emerges, with conditions for the transferability of some techniques and Climate change practical/operational procedures

Piani di Mitigazione e di Adattamento congiunti per affrontare il cambiamento climatico sulla costa adriatica. Il progetto Joint_SECAP

Climate change adaptation is currently a "hot topic" on the global scene. In 2013, the European Commission adopted an EU adaptation strategy that sets out the framework for strengthening Europe resilience to the impacts of climate change and in 2014 Mayors Adapt - the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative on Climate Change Adaptation, engaged cities in taking action to adapt to climate change. Nevertheless, this initiative is still at its dawn; most SEAPs only address the urban / municipal level, thus lacking the necessary territorial synergies that can make mitigation and adaptation policies and actions really effective. Some common factors have influenced the lack of effectiveness in the implementation of SEAPs and SECAPs. Energy plans are often too generic, sectoral and not well integrated into each city specific features, based on incomplete data and not always coordinated to other existing local policies and plans. Then there is a general lack of public awareness and qualified human resources and the same for funding opportunities. Another common obstacle is recognised in the incomplete, unshared, scattered information regarding energy efficiency and adaptation actions. There is the urgent need to take into account the specific territorial contexts (as for the Mediterranean and Adriatic regions), and, especially for adaptation measures, to define new opportunities to integrate common territorial challenges into Joint Actions and financial strategies. These common challenges are the ones the Joint-Secap project (Interreg Itally-Croatia) seeks to tackle by offering support to local authorities (specifically those in coastal areas with major vulnerabilities) in order to facilitate the implementation of specific adaptation measures (information, planning and monitoring). This Project reflects the necessity to operate at a wider district level (the Italian and Croation Adriatic Coast) to better define strategies and actions for climate change adaptation, for those weather and climate changes and hydrogeological risks affecting coastal areas.It is structured into two main phases; the first phase is developed to the common methodology for Joint Actions definition and implementation and to share the basic knowledge of climate change adaptation strategies and energy efficiency measures. The second phase regards the design of a web platform to share information, to support planning activities and even to monitor results and ongoing actions

TOWARDS HEALTHY URBAN DESIGN IN A RATIONALIST NEIGHBOURHOOD: A RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR THE MONTICELLI QUARTER IN ASCOLI PICENO, ITALY

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Consumo di Suolo e Governo del Territorio

Raccolta di saggi sul tema del consumo di suolo in Italia e in Europ

La Rigenerazione Urbana alla Prova

Sono ormai alcuni decenni che la città a industrializzazione matura è al centro di un radicale processo di trasformazione che ne ha modificato il volto e rischia di comprometterne il ruolo. Soprattutto laddove la globalizzazione dei processi produttivi e dei flussi finanziari si combina con gli effetti disastrosi dei cambiamenti climatici e dello sprawl, la crisi dei mercati e il declino urbano rischiano di sommarsi in modo dannoso e inestricabile. Per effetto di questi mutamenti traumatici e di una sensibilità crescente nei confronti dei temi della sostenibilità dello sviluppo, si sta facendo strada la richiesta di un nuovo approccio alle tematiche urbane, tanto che le politiche di crescita competitiva sembrano destinate a lasciare il campo ad un rinnovato interesse per quelle iniziative di rigenerazione urbana che privilegiano il benessere dei cittadini e la qualità dell’ambiente urbano e del paesaggio. Alla base di questo cambio di paradigma vi è la consapevolezza che l’età dell’espansione (degli insediamenti, della struttura produttiva, dei beni di consumo) può dirsi conclusa, e che la stessa disciplina urbanistica dovrà preoccuparsi in futuro di gestire processi di trasformazione resiliente. Si tratta di valorizzare e diffondere gli esperimenti di rigenerazione urbana effettuati di recente, elaborando politiche pubbliche e strumenti di pianificazione tali da guidare la contrazione delle aree urbanizzate senza danni irreversibili per gli stili di vita dei cittadini e per i territori restituiti alle precedenti destinazioni d’uso. In linea con questo impianto più generale il volume ospita tre sezioni differenti. Mentre la prima è dedicata a un’esplorazione della natura multidimensionale della nuova questione urbana, la seconda alle innovazioni e al carattere integrato che le politiche di rigenerazione dovranno acquisire, la terza approfondisce i contenuti di alcune esperienze innovative promosse nelle Marche dalla Regione e da due amministrazioni comunali