Indicators for the Circular City: A Review and a Proposal

The theme of the circular city is currently much debated in the literature as a possible strategy for achieving sustainability in urban areas. However, as a recent development it still has many features in the making, one of the most important being the issue concerning monitoring and the tool through which to achieve it. In the paper, therefore, the “indicator” tool is explored in depth. Metrics represent a fundamental and complex aspect that is foundational to measuring and quantifying the progress of results achieved with respect to the goals set. Currently, most existing indicators are associated with specific aspects of the circular economy; there have been few examples of indicators designed to assess the circularity of an entire city. The paper aims to identify priority themes and describe a set of indicators to be used at the urban level. In the absence of an established reference frame, themes and indicators were identified through a methodology starting with an extensive literature search and careful analysis, including statistical analysis, of the scientific literature as well as international and European strategies on the subject. A particular result of this research is the definition ofa minimum set of indicators common to all cities, which can be applied for comparative purposes

Sustainability charter for innovative cities and safe mobility. Case study: Sestri Levante

In order to make our cities more innovative and responsive, the paper reports a study aimed at defining a new sustainability tool, in the context of Agenda 2030, to be adopted in urban realities. It has to do with the 'Sustainability Charter', a city decision-making process, designed with researchers, local communities and companies. The research analyses the Sustainability Charter and develops a methodological approach aiming at the systemization of all sustainable actions related to different urban topics. In particular, indicators were identified to assess the sustainability of these topics, graphically represented by chart and defined as sustainability maps. In the paper, among the priority issues at urban level, sustainable mobility is explored. The current health emergency has highlighted all the problems related to urban mobility. This situation can represent an opportunity to improve, revise or update cities\u2019 governance tools. It is necessary to build safe soft mobility infrastructures, and to reorganize the existing ones -redesigning urban space-, by promoting a new culture of sustainable mobility. The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), should integrate the Urban Sustainability Charter and all the underlying strategies to promote sustainable mobility

Application Studies for the Implementation of the Sustainability Charter in the Metropolitan City of Genoa

Starting from Agenda 2030 and existing tools in the field of sustainability, this research defines the guidelines for a new Sustainability Charter created for a metropolitan-level city. These guidelines are then applied to the case study of the metropolitan city of Genoa. The paper reports, therefore, application studies for the implementation of the Sustainability Charter in the metropolitan city of Genoa. Funded by the Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of Territory and Sea, the Sustainability Charter of the Metropolitan City of Genoa, which we present here, is developed as part of \u201cAgenda 2030, the Sustainable Metropolitan Agenda of the Metropolitan City of Genoa: moving towards sustainable metropolitan spaces\u201d. This research has led to the implementation of a concrete product the entire citizenship can benefit from. The new proposed tool is oriented towards the application of sustainability in urban planning and management in order to reduce environmental impacts and promote a proper and better quality of life: a driving force for sustainable urban development. Sustainability as a tool to safeguard the cultural and environmental heritage and the economic system, which can represent a new opportunity for the development of competitiveness, innovation and employment

Review article: Current approaches and critical issues in multi-risk recovery planning of urban areas exposed to natural hazards

Post-disaster recovery has been addressed in the literature by different sectoral perspectives and scientific communities. Nevertheless, studies providing holistic approaches to recovery, integrating reconstruction procedures and socio-economic impacts, are still lacking. Additionally, there is a gap in disaster recovery research addressing the additional challenges posed by the effect of complex, multiple, and interacting risks on highly interconnected urban areas. Furthermore, recovery has only been marginally explored from a pre-disaster perspective in terms of planning and actions to increase urban resilience and recoverability. This paper provides a critical review of existing literature and guidelines on multi-risk disaster recovery with the twofold aim of identifying current gaps and providing the layout to address multi-risk recovery planning tools for decision-making. The literature on disaster recovery is investigated in the paper by focusing on the definition of the recovery phase and its separation or overlapping with other disaster risk management phases, the different destinations and goals that an urban system follows through recovery pathways, the requirements to implement a holistic resilience-based recovery roadmap, the challenges for shifting from single-risk to multi-risk recovery approaches, and the available tools for optimal decision-making in the recovery planning. Finally, the current challenges in multi-risk recovery planning are summarized and discussed. This review can be a ground basis for new research directions in the field of multi-risk recovery planning to help stakeholders in decision-making and optimize their pre-disaster investments to improve the urban system's recoverability.</p