Adaptive Reuse and Sustainability Protocols in Italy: Relationship with Circular Economy

This paper explores the enhancement of adaptive reuse (AR) of buildings through the lens of the sustainability protocols within the context of circular economy (CE) in Italy. Cities and the built environment can play a key role in the transition to a CE, especially considering the documented negative global impact due to resource consumption and waste generation. This is recognised among the principles of circularity defined by the European Commission towards a general strategy for a sustainable built environment, which encourages initiatives of building reuse and land consumption reduction. It has been proven that the AR of vacant buildings can bring environmental, social, and economic benefits towards an urban strategy based on CE principles by generating useful values to support innovative development dynamics. In this perspective, the sustainability protocols can be identified as useful tools to pursue strategies for spreading the culture of sustainable build environment. Considering the huge vacant Italian architectural heritage, this paper aims to analyze how the most widely used sustainability protocols in the Italian context currently address the enhancement of the reuse of buildings, to improve environmental, social, and economic quality in the built environment. We discuss the results highlighting how and which sustainability protocols better intercept these issues, providing grounds for future development

The Economic Evaluation of Projects as a Structuring Discipline of Learning Processes to Support Decision-Making in Sustainable Urban Transformations

This paper is based on the following research questions: i) In which way could the discipline Economic Evaluation of Projects contribute to conveying the sustainability concept in urban settings among master’s degree students? What are the methods/techniques that can support decision processes of sustainable urban transformation? In response to the two research questions, the paper proposes a multi-methodological framework as a design tool for students (future professionals) aimed at representing the decision problem from a sustainable planning perspective. Through a Problem-Based Learning approach based on a case study, the proposed framework considers: SWOT Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis (SA), Multicriteria Analysis (MCDA), Cash Flow Analysis (CFA), and the application of the Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSATools). The multi-methodological framework has been applied to an experimental teaching case study as part of the Economic Evaluation of Projects module demonstrating its effectiveness in terms of sustainable spatial planning and structuring of the decision process from a multi-actor perspective. Future directions of the research are aimed at tackling two major limitations of the multi-methodological framework as the need to closely reflect a real decision process through an iterative framework and the sometimes hard interpretation of some elements of urban sustainability

Investigate Walkability: An Assessment Model to Support Urban Development Processes

This chapter is about defining and testing a multi-methodological frame- work able to measure the “walkability” in the urban practice perspective, based on assessment indicators and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Nowadays, cities are facing a complex challenge concerning sustainability, which is fueling the search for new development solutions. Among others, one of the most important problems is how to make cities sustainable and resilient, as stressed by the Sustainable Develop- ment Goal 11 (SDG11) highlighted by the United Nations through the 2030 Agenda. The topic of “walkability” appears in this framework: Walking has ecological, social, economic and political benefits. Moreover, designing walkable networks is impor- tant to create a functional and multi-modal city with transport choices and makes urban settlements sustainable and inclusive from the perspective that a sustainable city is also a walkable city. However, despite the positive impact of walkability on public space, it is still difficult to fully include it in governmental strategies because of its novelty in the scientific debate. The ongoing research proposed here aims at: (i) describing the problem, related to what trends and strategies have been implemented to face it; (ii) investigating walkability, understanding its definition in the scientific panorama, and how it is evaluated; (iii) understanding the current evaluation methods to assess the walkability of spaces; (iv) proposing a new multi-methodological frame- work based on existing methods that are able to measure the walkability degree from the perspective of better planning of cities. The multi-methodological framework has been tested through a case study: the Politecnico di Torino Campus (Torino, Italy)

Pursuing the SDG11 Targets: The Role of the Sustainability Protocols

This paper is built on the following research questions: (i) What are the direct/indirect relationships between Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) and sustainability protocols? (ii) Could the sustainability protocols constitute a solution towards the achievement of SDG11? We underline that, on the one hand, the SDGs are guidelines to support the development of sustainable policies and thus address all elements that may affect them, and on the other hand, sustainability protocols are assessment tools to promote sustainability-conscious design while remaining focused on the built environment. In the Italian regulatory context, the paper highlights how this difference in terms of focus and scale means that they only overlap and mutually reinforce each other with regard to certain aspects, more related to energy and air pollution issues and less to the social aspects of sustainability. Even if there is not always a direct relationship between the evaluation criteria of the protocols and the indicators of SDG11, it is possible to conclude that the sustainability protocols can facilitate the achievement of the SDG11 targets, acting as a key for the implementation of sustainable cities and helping in structuring the process leading to sustainability in a broader framework

LA WALKABILITY COME STRUMENTO DI MISURA: PRIMI PASSI VERSO UN APPROCCIO MULTI-METODOLOGICO

The constant urbanization of the last century has led cities to face challenges in terms of urban sustainability. In recent years, the discussion on alternative mobility has been the subject of numerous studies, showing that the concept of urban walkability can be used as an additional support in planning sustainable cities. This is what the UN also aims for, among other topics, in its SDGs’ 2030 Agenda. This paper aims to report the first results of an ongoing research whose general objective is to develop and define a multi-methodological approach able to assess urban walkability in order to guide planning projects in terms of sustainability. First the walkability issue will be argued and second an in-depth investigation of the walkability topic will be provided, understanding its definition in the scientific panorama, how is evaluated and how its evaluation could be useful in urban transformation processes. This preliminary research reported the first fundamental step towards the definition of a multi-methodological approach able to evaluate the walkability of a territory in order to guide future urban projects

Assessing the SDG11 on a Neighborhood Scale Through the Integrated Use of GIS Tools. An Italian Case Study

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 of the 2030 Agenda addresses issues of sustainable urban development and provides guidelines for monitoring progress, that should occur primarily at the neighborhood scale from which development begins. Thus, since the early 2000s many countries have developed Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSATs) as multi-criteria assessment tools for neighborhood sustainability using criteria and indicators, with the aim of encouraging sustainable urban planning. Although NSATs can be useful tools for choosing sustainable measures, they are not yet able to return an integrated view of urban sustainability. In parallel, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are tools used in planning to manage and spatialize urban data and are often combined with multi-criteria analysis tools to define the actual priorities to be pursued in terms of urban sustainability. Contributing to the literature on urban planning, this article explores the combination of SNAT and GIS toolswith respect to the assessment of the sustainability of cities, with the aim of investigating at the Italian national level if and in what terms SNAT could be an operational tool to support urban planning, in view of the achievement of SDG11

LA WALKABILITY COME STRUMENTO DI MISURA: PRIMI PASSI VERSO UN APPROCCIO MULTI-METODOLOGICO

The constant urbanization of the last century has led cities to face challenges in terms of urban sustainability. In recent years, the di- scussion on alternative mobility has been the subject of numerous studies, showing that the concept of urban walkability can be used as an additional support in planning sustainable cities. This is what the UN also aims for, among other topics, in its SDGs’ 2030 Agenda. This paper aims to report the first results of an ongoing research whose general objective is to develop and define a multi-methodological approach able to assess urban walkability in order to guide planning projects in terms of sustainability. First the walkability issue will be argued and second an in-depth investigation of the walkability topic will be provided, understanding its definition in the scientific panorama, how is evaluated and how its evaluation could be useful in urban transformation processes. This preliminary research reported the first fundamental step towards the definition of a multi-methodological approach able to evaluate the walkability of a territory in order to guide future urban projects

Measuring and evaluating urban sustainability

The concept of sustainable development is closely related to that of sustainability assessment, as it implies a process of evaluation of progress made over time. In this context, indicators present themselves as a key and fundamental element for measuring and evaluating the specific issues that compose the different phenomena to be monitored. Indeed, they constitute the tool that can provide qualitative or quantitative data and information needed to identify the performance, progress, and weaknesses of plans, projects, and policies. In this context, the paper investigates the potential differences that the indicator can take in the differing purposes of measurement and evaluation in the context of urban sustainable development. A literature review is therefore conducted to gather and systematize knowledge so that it can be useful for reflections on sustainable urban assessment. The paper reports the results of the analysis concerning the context of measurement and evaluation, highlighting the differences or similarities from a conceptual and operational point of view

Supporting the Transition from Linear to Circular Economy Through the Sustainability Protocols

The significant paradigm shift that contemporary cities are experiencing in terms of economic, social and environmental issues frames the particular urgency of a transition towards more sustainable urban systems. In this context, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) has begun to explore the possible applications of the circular economy (CE) principles and objectives within cities, promoting their relevance among city policy makers in order to address sustainable urban planning and design issues. In particular, the EMF emphasizing the importance of a sustainable design of the urban environment on people’s quality of life, promoting the sustainability protocols such as useful tools to spread the design of a sustainable built environment through effective strategies. In this perspective, this paper aims to investigate if and to what extent the sustainability protocols at the neighborhood scale are evolving towards the tran- sition to the CE paradigm within cities. First, the two most internationally used sustainability protocols at the neighborhood scale, respectively the LEED-ND and the BREEAM Communities, are analyzed in terms of assessment structure and contents. Second, a comparative analysis is provided, stating how many criteria of these two tools can be traced back to the principles and key elements of CE in cities, and providing their relative importance. Furthermore, on the basis of this analysis, the paper highlights within the conclusions if and in what terms the sustainability protocols at the neighborhood scale analyzed support the paradigm shift toward circularity that is taking place within cities