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 Faced with these profound changes, the rationalistic urban vision is no longer current.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

Paesaggio e ricostruzione

L'articolo sviluppa 4 temi, discussi nella tavola rotonda Paesaggio e ricostruzione di Napoli. 1.Conservazione dell’identità e cultura dei luoghi Ruolo del paesaggio, come interazione tra patrimonio naturale e culturale, nelle politiche di riduzione del rischio, resilienza e sostenibilità (UN SDGs 2015, climate strategies, EEA 2016, CoE 2018); il paesaggio è il “sistema articolato di relazioni” da ricostruire rafforzando l’interazione tra il patrimonio degradato, il con-testo e le aspirazioni delle comunità locali (UNESCO, 2015). 2. Partnership con le comunità locali Ruolo della popolazione nelle politiche e nei processi di ricostruzione/mitigazione (riduzione del rischio), il loro coinvolgimento nella pianificazione è indispensabile “per rispondere e ricostruire meglio” (Sendai Framework 2015, UNISDR, 2015, Making Cities Resilient, Esposito et al 2017) nell’ottica della resilienza, sia in fase di preparazione, che durante e dopo il disastro naturale. 3. Gestione del rischio nella pianificazione Approccio strategico, adattivo, multidisciplinare della pianificazione in ragione della complessa interazio-ne di aspetti da affrontare (ecologici, sociali, economici e culturali) che richiede numerose competenze (capacity building). Nuovi modelli e strumenti per l’operatività (piani, quadri strategici, linee guida, misure ecc.) e ruolo della formazione (Training Courses, special skills and knowledge) 4. Strategie per aree interne fragili e vulnerabili Strategie di sviluppo sociale ed economico per innalzare la capacità di risposta dei territori interessati da eventi disastrosi, favorendo la riduzione dei fenomeni di abbandono post-catastrofe. Connessioni ed in-terazioni tra la ricostruzione fisica dell’armatura urbana e infrastrutturale e la rinascita socio economica. Per esplorare efficacemente le tematiche succitate potrebbe essere utile la presentazione di casi studio e best practises

Agricultural Land and the New Urban Paradigm: Coexistence, Integration, or Conflict?

The relation between "urban" and "rural" has changed and developed over the last few decades. The present contribution focuses on how the relationship between these two entities has developed, highlighting how it corresponds to a growing complexity and interdependence among the two. Awareness has increased that to the extent that proper management of these interdependences can contribute to solve problems, increase economic performance and also make a contribution to a higher quality of life in and around urban areas. In this framework, green infrastructures and agriculture practices in urban areas are discussed. The contribution concludes by suggesting strategies and actions for the proper implementation of green infrastructures and urban agriculture practices at regional and local scales

COVID 19 - A Qualitative Review for the Reorganization of Human Living Environments

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing people’s habits and behaviors and will reshape city layout and management. Among the different areas of research to be explored, the paper outlines first inputs to use the COVID-19 health crisis as a “window of opportunity” to trigger a sustainable transition of urban living environments, through actions to reshape and territorial organization after COVID-19 and in preparation for future health. Before having a vaccine or medications that ensure a non-lethal disease course, there will be a phase of responsibility and coexistence with the virus. It will be a period whose duration experts are still unable to quantify. What changes in the city organization, behaviors and uses of spaces will we observe in the living environments? Will this lead to a sustainability transition? The paper proposes a qualitative review to investigate how the droplet might travel through the air and how COVID-19 has spread in different urban contexts to outline a comprehensive reflection on the future of the city and strategies for more resilient communities and territories. To achieve this goal, the paper proposes the need of a comparison between skills related to physics aspects, such as fluid dynamics (to assess how droplets spread) and skills related to architectural, urban and territorial design (to evaluate the conditions of indoor and outdoor living environments)

Stvaranje memorijala - umijeće sjećanja; Metoda obnove mjesta

The paper continues on-going research of memorials by putting typological identification from previous studies into the context of post-disaster and postwar place regeneration. The aim is to explore the ‘concept of manipulation’ on case studies through choreography of motion as a design tool for memorials.Članak nastavlja istraživanje memorijala, prema postavljenoj tipološkoj identifikaciji iz ranijih istraživanja, u kontekstu problematike obnove razorenog mjesta. Cilj je istražiti na primjerima ‘koncept manipulacije’ putem koreografije kretanja što postaje način stvaranja memorijala

Paesaggio e cibo, qualità della vita e attrattività dei luoghi

"Landscape, food, quality of life and and attractiveness of places" (Massimo Sargolini) Landscape, food, quality of life and and attractiveness of places are close linked. In particular, in this text, the food is the focus of a series of connections. In recent years food traditions and traditional products have taken on considerable importance, increasingly taking shape as a privileged object of study through which to read and understand the territory. Every society, in every historical context tends to invest the food of social, cultural and economic values. The recognition of the cultural value of "intangible" food was enshrined in 2010 by UNESCO with the recognition and inclusion in the list of '"Intangible Cultural Heritage" of the French Gourmet meal of traditional Mexican cuisine and the Mediterranean diet. The concept of "food of the area", acting as a vehicle of tradition, culture and memory, not only enriched food products, but it creates a huge value for the same territories, which are in their products a significant component of identity. Leon Rappoport, investigating the socio-psychological components of food, wanted to reiterate that concept with the 'expression: "... Whether we are aware or not, when we eat a particular food, we are swallowing not only that food, but also the concept, [culture, territory] represented by that food". Moreover, this reflection extends from food primary to the accessory, from areas to regional urban environments circumscribed. The tight bond between the product and the environment in which it appears has weight, in the sense that the quality of the landscape heavily affects the product value and vice versa. In line with this reasoning, the landscape defined by the European Landscape Convention, "as part of the territory, as it is perceived by the populations, whose features come from natural and anthropic factors and Their interactions", as an instrument capable of synthesizing , represent and communicate the planning of local companies, can have the value of "strategic asset" for promoting new and more sustainable forms of development, able to interconnect the different sectors (culture, agribusiness, environmental, manufacturing and tourism) that characterize the territory

Building Back Better: idee e percorsi per la costruzione di comunità resilienti

I saggi raccolti in questo volume richiamano l’attenzione su quanto è possibile fare sin d’ora, nel nostro paese, per mobilitare le migliori energie e attivare processi virtuosi nella direzione tracciata dalle Nazioni Unite nel Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30. Si tratta certamente di “ricostruire meglio” (Building Back Better), ma servono anche azioni di prevenzione che diventano prioritarie in un contesto dove ai rischi naturali si aggiungono vulnerabilità sociali ed economiche. La comunità scientifica ha il dovere di partecipare alla creazione di condizioni che incrementino la resilienza dei territori e delle comunità a rischio o già colpiti. Solo un fecondo e concreto dialogo fra i numerosi saperi, competenze e responsabilità dei diversi attori coinvolti può consentire di intraprendere azioni adeguate per ottenere risultati incisivi e duraturi a sostegno dei territori e delle comunità. Un hub internazionale, caratterizzato da contributi multidisciplinari, può valorizzare una massa critica di ricerca e innovazione, come testimonia questo libro, attivando un proficuo confronto con i decisori politici per progettare e realizzare interventi concreti sui territori. Il volume raccoglie contributi di ricercatori di università italiane (Bologna, Camerino, Firenze, Macerata, Modena e Reggio Emilia, Politecnica delle Marche, Urbino), enti e centri di ricerca (Centro euromediterraneo di documentazione Eventi Estremi e Disastri, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Istituto nazionale di fisica nucleare, Istituto nazionale di geofisica e vulcanologia) e di ActionAid. La parte Strategie in azione raccoglie le interviste ai responsabili dell’Agenzia per la coesione territoriale, del Piano Casa Italia, della Protezione civile e di Loccioni Group

LinkPAs - Linking networks of protected areas to territorial development: Targeted Analysis - Scientific Report

This targeted analysis addresses mountain territories where high degrees of biodiversity and natural capital hotspots are localised, and experiences on their preservation, management and monitoring were gathered. Mountains cover 41% of the territory in the ESPON space and are home to 17% of its population with 16 massifs (ESPON GEOSPECS 2013). Mountains can be seen as “inner peripheries”, “marginal” areas from a socio-economic perspective (ESPON, “Inner Peripheries”, 2016), where the issue of accessibility to services should also include ecosystemic ones (MiSE, “Inner areas”, 2015). Mountain issues assume relevance in key themes for sustainable territorial development such as ecological connectivity and natural resources management (e.g. water, forests, soil). The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals mention mountains with reference to water management, efficient use of natural resources, ecosystem and biodiversity, ensuring mountain ecosystems conservation and enhancing their ability to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development. In this sense NPAs contribute to defining common visions and scenarios for sustainable development of homogeneous areas. Endogenous natural capital can thus contribute to sustainable regional economic cycles and provide inputs for a green economy that NPAs should be able to promote. The ecological conditions and vulnerability of the territory require also strategic and integrated policies for both natural and urban areas. According to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) a protected area is a clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values. Europe’s Natura 2000 and the Emerald network under development are international European networks of protected areas that catalyse biodiversity conservation. The topic deserves being tackled with a wider territorial and spatial planning perspective, embracing core natural areas and related buffer zones and urban areas. At EU level, valuable experiences are the specific Protocols of the Alpine and Carpathian Conventions recalling the necessity for NPAs and the integration of the objective of conservation and sustainable use of natural assets into sectoral policies. In this sense, NPAs contribute to achieve EU and international objectives. The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 encourages cooperation and dialogue with key sectors and stakeholders, as well as the development of mechanisms for biodiversity (e.g. Business@Biodiversity Platform; The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity initiative), ensuring that these issues are reflected in decision-making at all levels. A territorial development approach based on NPAs could also be transferred to other types of territories, whether they are mountainous (Pyrenees, Dinaric Alps) or not (e.g. coast-maritime areas as with the Adriatic Protected Areas Network, DANUBEPARKS, the network of protected areas along the Danube River). It represents a perspective for both ESPON countries with no experience in NPAs and non-ESPON countries (e.g. Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania) seeking to integrate natural capital into territorial strategies and meet EU targets

Is there a pilot in the brain? Contribution of the self-positioning system to spatial navigation

International audienceSince the discovery of place cells, the hippocampus is thought to be the neural substrate of a cognitive map. The later discovery of head direction cells, grid cells and border cells, as well as of cells with more complex spatial signals, has led to the idea that there is a brain system devoted to providing the animal with the information required to achieve efficient navigation. Current questioning is focused on how these signals are integrated in the brain. In this review, we focus on the issue of how self-localization is performed in the hippocampal place cell map. To do so, we first shortly review the sensory information used by place cells and then explain how this sensory information can lead to two coding modes, respectively based on external landmarks (allothetic information) and self-motion cues (idiothetic information). We hypothesize that these two modes can be used concomitantly with the rat shifting from one mode to the other during its spatial displacements. We then speculate that sequential reactivation of place cells could participate in the resetting of self-localization under specific circumstances and in learning a new environment. Finally, we provide some predictions aimed at testing specific aspects of the proposed ideas

L'Appennino dopo il sisma: quali prospettive di sviluppo per le comunità locali

The period of deep ecological and economic changes we are going through, leads to reflections, even radical, about scales of values, governance strategies, implementing tactics of conservation and transformation of landscape. Up to now, many are the events, programs and projects put into play with the aim of supporting the revitalization of marginal and remote mountainous areas as the Charter of Sarnano and the Italian Strategy for Inner Areas. Participation and involvement activities with local communities are needed to understand what could be the new perspectives of these territories, because they have always been playing the role of main actor, observer and responsible implementer of new spatial development for the sustainable fu- ture of the Apennines