A comparative cycling path selection for sustainable tourism in Franciacorta. An integrated AHP-ELECTRE method

Cycle tourism is a form of sustainable itinerant tourism expanding in Italy and the rest of the world, with prospects for growth in coming years. Europe and North America have already developed a wide range of cycling infrastructures tied to tourism experiences. Benefits induced are generally recognised: first, it is a sustainable solution that increases local economics while conserving the environment; second, it guarantees advantages on social connections, amusement, and physical and mental health. However, it requires an adequate network to enjoy destinations as historical and landscape peculiarities. Currently, literature provides some methods for planning itineraries dedicated to cycle tourism. Despite that, there is less attention on how evaluating existing or already planned tourist itineraries. This study covers this gap, by applying an integrated method to assess bicycle connections for tourism experiences within municipalities. Since this evaluation may contain many conflicting criteria (e.g., preferences of public administrator, technical and economic viability) and possible alternatives, this study frames the method as a multi-criteria decision-making problem (MCDM). Specifically, at first, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is adopted to calculate weights for each criterium; next, the ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalitè (ELECTRE) method is applied to provide a (possible) priority ranking of cycling tourist paths among alternatives, by computing indices of discordance and concordance between pairs of alternatives. The framework is applied to the Franciacorta area (North-East Italy), a national and international tourist relevance territory encompassing 22 municipalities. This study may be useful for public administrators to rationalise and prioritise cycling routes

Urban policies and planning approaches for a safer and climate friendlier mobility in cities: Strategies, initiatives and some analysis

How can urban policies and planning approaches help in achieving a safer mobility and carbon reduction in the transport sector? The attention of planners and policy makers towards the promotion of sustainability and reduction of environmental impacts has grown in recent years. This paper investigates the role that Urban Planning plays in the long term towards a safer and climate friendlier mobility, highlighting the need for integrated approaches gathering spatial planning and mobility management. After a review of several urban policies and planning strategies, initiatives, and approaches, mainly based on the urban scale, the paper presents an urban regeneration case study leading to an increase of pedestrian accessibility at the neighborhood level. This can be seen as a support tool to foster sustainable, safe, and climate friendly mobility in cities. The results of the performed analysis show a dependency of accessibility from two different factors: the distribution of services and the capillarity of the soft mobility network, which can contribute to creating a more walkable space

Gli effetti delle previsioni urbanistiche sulla rigenerazione urbana diffusa. Il caso di Brescia

Obiettivo del presente lavoro è quello di indagare gli effetti che l’attuazione delle previsioni urbanistiche può avere in termini di rigenerazione diffusa, partendo dal caso studio della città di Brescia, che nell’ultimo quinquennio è stata interessata da numerose trasformazioni dell’assetto urbanistico. Trasformazioni che hanno in qualche misura segnato l’uscita dalla crisi che nell’ultimo decennio ha colpito pesantemente il mercato immobiliare. In queste trasformazioni urbanistiche, che interessano per la gran parte aree di proprietà privata, e solo in misura minore aree di proprietà comunale, l’iniziativa arriva da soggetti privati, ma il comune assume un fondamentale ruolo di regia nello sviluppo e nell’attuazione dell’intervento, e soprattutto nel definire le prestazioni pubbliche attese e, di conseguenza, le opere di urbanizzazione primaria e secondaria da prevedere nelle convenzioni urbanistiche dei piani attuativi. Le trasformazioni che interessano le aree private, unitamente alle opere di urbanizzazione da esse originate, raggiungono così il duplice effetto di recuperare le aree dismesse e degradate, e rigenerare lo spazio pubblico adiacente, attraverso un’azione di rammendo del tessuto urbano consolidato, anche mediante l’inserimento di servizi che possono aumentare la vitalità di alcune parti dei quartieri, e generando così l’effetto sociale di rafforzare il senso di comunità e favorire l’integrazione. Questo lavoro presenta una metodologia di analisi che, partendo dalla disamina delle delibere assunte negli ultimi 5 anni dal Settore Urbanistica del Comune di Brescia, mette in relazione trasformazioni urbanistiche e qualità dello spazio pubblico. La metodologia si basa sull’utilizzo di un software GIS, che consente di mappare, categorizzare e quantificare le trasformazioni, con la finalità di costruire una base informativa che permetta nel tempo di monitorare gli effetti delle trasformazioni urbanistiche sulla dimensione socio-economica oltre che sulla qualità dello spazio urbano

Fluorescence-guided lymphadenectomy in gastric cancer: a prospective western series

Background: Indocyanine green (ICG) has been recently introduced in clinical practice as a fluorescent tracer. Lymphadenectomy is particularly challenging in gastric cancer surgery, owing to the complex anatomical drainage. Aim: The primary outcomes of this study were the feasibility and usefulness of ICG-guided lymphadenectomy in gastric cancer surgery, considering both the success rate and improved understanding of the surgical anatomy of nodal basins. The secondary outcome was the diagnostic ability of ICG to predict the presence of nodal metastases. Patients and methods: We conducted a single-center prospective trial comprising 13 patients with gastric cancer. ICG was injected the afternoon prior to surgery or intraoperatively via the submucosal or subserosal route. Standard lymphadenectomy was performed in all patients, according to patient age and tumor stage, as usual, but after standard lymphadenectomy the residual ICG + nodes were harvested and analyzed. Each nodal station and each dissected node was recorded and classified as ICG + or ICG− (both in vivo and back table evaluation was utilized for classification). After pathological analysis, each nodal station and each dissected node was recorded as metastatic or nonmetastatic (E&E staining). Results: The feasibility rate was 84.6% (11/13). The mean number of dissected lymph nodes per patient was 37.9. Focusing on the 11 patients in whom ICG-guided nodal navigation was successfully performed, 81 lymph node stations were removed, for a total of 417 lymph nodes. Sixty-six stations (81.48%), comprising a total of 336 lymph nodes, exhibited fluorescence. No IC− node was metastatic; all 54 metastatic nodes were ICG +. A total of 282 ICG + nodes were nonmetastatic. In two cases, some nodes outside D2 areas were harvested, being ICG + (1 case of metastatic node). Conclusions: Fluorescence lymphography–guided lymphadenectomy is a promising new technique that combines a high feasibility rate with considerable ease of use. Regarding its diagnostic value, the key finding from this prospective series is that no metastatic nodes were found outside fluorescent lymph node stations. Further studies are needed to investigate whether this technique can help surgeons performing standard lymphadenectomy and selecting cases for D2 + lymphadenectomy