Cities and Energy Consumption: a Critical Review

The relationship between cities and energy consumption has been of great interest for the scientific community for over twenty years. Most of the energy consumption, indeed, occurs in cities because of the high concentration of human activities. Thus, cities are responsible for a big share of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). However, the debate on this topic is still open, mainly because of the heterogeneity of published studies in the selection, definition and measurement of the urban features influencing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, as well as in the choice of the energy sectors to be considered, in the territorial scale of analysis, and in the geographical distribution of the sample. Therefore, the goal of this research is to systematize and compare the approach, methodology and results of the relevant literature on the relationship between cities and energy consumption over the last twenty years. Furthermore, this critical review identifies the knowledge gap between what is known and what is still under debate and, based on that, it proposes a conceptual framework that will help to outline a new direction for future research and support local policy makers in the definition of strategies and actions that can effectively reduce urban energy use and CO2 emissions

Smart City, Metropolitan Areas and Competitiveness: the Case Study of Florence

In several urban contexts, the definition of a new development process is arising and it is focused on the use and the application of new technologies in different areas of the urban system. Such new development process is aimed at increasing life quality and local communities wellness and at promoting the creation of a more efficient and more sustainable urban system, as well as at making it more competitive. The issue of the reorganization of metropolitan areas is combined with such process, following the recent approval of the Delrio Law that establishes the Metropolitan City in Italy, as government authority of the metropolitan areas. Smart City, Metropolitan Areas and Competitiveness are the three topics of this paper, which aim is the description of the most innovative politics and initiatives adopted in the Metropolitan City of Florence that is proposed as a case study where such topics are combined

Petites zones verdes per l'estalvi energètic: efectes sobre diferents assentaments urbans

Los aspectos de la sostenibilidad, hasta hoy, emergen como un tema central dentro de la gran cantidad de definiciones existentes de Smart City. En el debate actual, la conciencia de que las TIC es sólo una de las herramientas, pero no la clave para el nuevo diseño del sistema urbano, especialmente de acuerdo con las nuevas exigencias para satisfacer las necesidades del presente sin comprometer la capacidad de las generaciones futuras para satisfacer sus propias necesidades, colocadas en la parte superior de los desafíos globales cada vez más apremiantes (cambio climático, energía, uso del suelo, etc.). Uno de los objetivos de la sostenibilidad urbana parece estar en contradicción con uno de los puntos principales del modelo de Smart City: la necesidad de densificar la ciudad, a causa del rápido crecimiento de la población. Si las ciudades están diseñadas para ser más compactas, para optimizar el uso del suelo, ¿cómo podemos evitar el riesgo de abarrotar la ciudad? Una posible respuesta puede venir del estudio de la relación entre los espacios urbanos llenos y vacíos; los edificios, por un lado, y los espacios abiertos por el otro. El equilibrio entre estos espacios debe ser estudiado con el fin de orientar las políticas e intervenciones para la correcta localización, tamaño y diseño de los sistemas de espacios verdes, en relación con el consumo de energía, confort ambiental y los efectos positivos de reducción de CO2. Esta contribución presenta los primeros resultados de un estudio destinado a determinar las dimensiones espaciales, valores de umbral verdes, que influyen en el microclima urbano bajando las temperaturas, y sus distancias de refrigeración, en relación con diferentes valores de densidad de asentamiento de la trama urbana.Els aspectes de la sostenibilitat, fins avui, emergeixen com un tema central dins de la gran quantitat de definicions existents d'Smart City. En el debat actual, la conciència de que les TIC és una de les eines, però no la clau pel nou disseny urbà, especialment d'acord amb les noves exigències per satisfer les necessitats del present sense comprometre la capacitat de les generacions futures per satisfer les seves pròpies necessitats, col·locades a la part superior dels desafiaments globals cada vegada més opressius (canvi climàtic, energia, ús del sòl, etc.). Un dels objectius de la sostenibilitat urbana sembla estar en contradicció amb un dels punts principals del model d'Smart City: la necessitat de densificar la ciutat, a causa del ràpid creixement de la població. Si les ciutats estan dissenyades per ser més compactes, per optimitzar l'ús del sòl, com podem evitar el risc de col·lapsar la ciutat?Una possible resposta pot venir de l'estudi de la relació entre els espais urbans plens i buits; els edificis, per un costat, i els espais oberts per l'altre. L'equilibri entre aquests espais ha de ser estudiat amb la finalitat d'orientar les polítiques i intervencions per la correcta localització, mida i disseny dels sistemes d'espais verds, en relació al consum d'energia, confort ambiental i els efectes positius de la reducció de CO2. Aquesta contribució presenta els primers resultats d'un estudi destinat a determinar les dimensions espacials, valors d'umbral verds, que influeixen al microclima urbà baixant les temperatures, i les seves distàncies de refrigeració, en relació amb diferents valors de densitat d'assentament de la trama urbana.The aspects of sustainability, to date, emerge as a central theme within the plethora of definitions of the Smart City. In the current debate, the awareness that ICT is only one of the tools and not the key to the new design of the urban organism is growing, especially according to the new requirements to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, placed on top of the increasingly pressing global challenges (climate change, energy, land use, etc.). One goal of urban sustainability seems to be in contradiction with one of the main points of the Smart City model: the need to densify the city, caused by the rapid population growth. If cities are designed to be more compact to optimize land use, how do we prevent the risk of town cramming? A possible answer may come from the study of the relationship between full and empty urban spaces; the buildings on the one side, and the open spaces on the other. The equilibrium between these spaces needs to be studied in order to direct policies and interventions to correctly locate, size and design the green spaces systems, in relation to energy consumption, environmental comfort and CO2 reduction positive effects. This contribution presents the first results of a study aimed at determining the green space dimensions threshold values, which influence urban microclimate lowering temperatures, and their cooling distances, in relation to different settlement density values of the urban fabric.Peer Reviewe

Urban Sustainability and Parking Areas in Naples. A Tool for Decision-Makers

L’obiettivo di tipo metodologico del contributo è la messa a punto di uno strumento di supporto al decisore pubblico per l’individuazione delle aree del territorio urbano da destinare alla sosta. La costruzione di tale strumento è guidata da criteri che fanno riferimento a scelte di tipo urbanistico più che di tipo trasportistico e che riguardano prevalentemente l’integrazione tra aspetti di salvaguardia ambientale, distribuzione delle attività e necessità di mobilità. Infatti, il percorso metodologico tende a coniugare le caratteristiche morfologico-insediative e ambientali del sito con la domanda di sosta che dipende dalle attività insediate nell’ambito urbano di rifermento, considerandole quali elementi-chiave nella costruzione di scelte compatibili di trasformazione della città, tanto nella fase di localizzazione, distribuzione e dimensionamento degli interventi quanto nella successiva fase di progettazione della tipologia costruttiva dei manufatti per la sosta. Il contributo, che fa riferimento ad uno studio più ampio, si compone di tre parti. La prima è dedicata alla definizione dell’algoritmo che rappresenta l’iter attraverso cui si definiscono le soluzioni praticabili e compatibili di localizzazione, distribuzione e tipologia delle aree di sosta e di progettazione degli spazi. La seconda parte è dedicata alla definizione degli ulteriori criteri di contesto che vanno di volta in volta adottati in relazione al la città di riferimento. La terza parte è dedicata alla individuazione degli spazi per la sosta di relazione a Napoli, come esempio applicativo concreto dell’algoritmo messo a punto e dei criteri di contesto individuati. L’idea guida dell’intero lavoro è orientata a scoraggiare l’ingresso veicolare nelle aree urbane consolidate e, quindi, ad evitare la localizzazione dei parcheggi nel centro città, considerati quali ulteriori elementi di attrazione dei flussi di traffico.The methodological target of this paper consists in setting up a supporting tool for the public decision-maker in individuating the areas for parking within urban territory. The construction of this tool is guided by criteria referring more to urban and regional planning choices than to transport ones and concerning mostly the integration among environmental safeguard, activities distribution and need for mobility. As matter of fact, the methodological route tends to join the morphological-settlement and environmental characteristics of the site with the demand for parking, which depends on the activities settled in the urban ambit of reference, considering them as key-elements in building compatible choices of city transformation either in the phase of localization, distribution and sizing of interventions or in the following phase of planning the building typology of parking equipments. This paper shares the position expressed in the report on sustainable European Cities, destined to the local authorities of any city in the states of the European Union, which belongs to those documents targeted to affect the development and implementation of innovating policies and actions for promoting a more sustainable urban Europe. Therefore, the paper is divided into three parts. The first part defines the algorithm showing the iter through which it is possible to define feasible and compatible solutions for envisaging localization, distribution and typology of the areas and spaces to be realized. The second part, through the real implementation in a particular case, the city of Naples, deals with the definition of further criteria that are time by time implemented according to the urban context of reference. The tird part deals with the application to Naples and individuates a specific typology of parking areas, as implementation of the worked out algorythm and of the above-said criteria. The central part of the paper deals, then, with defining a route through which, among the possible transformations, the feasible alternatives are univocally individuated according to the environmental, historical and geo-morphological compatibilities and on the base of the expressed demand. All the building process is targeted, from its beginning, to reach desired and chosen aims with the awareness, confirmed by the previous analysis phase, that there are limits, bonds and conditions circumscribing the field of physical transformation planning - concerning the parking realization in this case - within well defined boundaries. Although this paper shares the choice of mobility policies targeted to stop and discourage the vehicles transit in the city downtown and against the realization of parking in those areas, nevertheless the suggested algorithm leads to realize exclusively areas for residential parking in historical central areas

Urban services, pedestrian networks and behaviors to measure elderly accessibility

Peer reviewedPostprin

Città Metropolitane e Smart Governance. Iniziative di successo e nodi critici verso la Smart City

[English]:The volume contains the results of the research project "Governance Analysis Project (GAP) for the Smart Energy City. The actualization of Smart Cities in the Metropolitan Areas of Europe and Italy” conducted within the PON “Smart Energy Master for the energy management of the territory” at the University Federico II of Naples (TeMA Lab of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering). Smart Cities have gained increasing relevance in the scientific debate and in the national and international operational practice, emerging as one of the opportunities to rethink cities and, more generally, the life of urban communities. First reflections, researches and projects on the issue seem to converge towards the idea that a “smart” urban development should not only be a result of the yet necessary and unavoidable infrastructural endowment (physical capital) and of its continuing innovation, but also of the quality of human, social and environmental capital, conceived as strategic factors for development. A “smart” city is, primarily, a city able to effectively satisfy the needs of its citizens respecting the rules imposed by the environmental context. It is in such a debate that the project GAP fits with the aim to address Smart Cities in light of the administrative reorganization of Italian large cities as a consequence of the Law 56/2014. With a scientific approach, the volume provides a comprehensive and updated framework of how Italian and European Metropolitan cities are declining the Smart City issue and this thanks to the collection of a wide-ranging screening represented by more than 1.000 initiatives including researches, projects, interventions, technologies, etc. Furthermore, one original element of this research is that after an analysis conducted through indirect sources, a phase of dialogue with “stakeholders” was carried out (and of this there is a wide picture in the volume in which, by the way, are reported long excerpts of the interviews). This has enabled to give a clearer framework of what is now experimenting in Italian and European cities, avoiding being totally naïve for interventions and projects labelled as “smart”, but often lacking of innovative methods and contents. The volume is articulated in 16 chapters: two chapters present the comparison among 12 Italian metropolitan cities, instituted by Law 56/2014, with reference to the ongoing experimentations (chap.1) and indicators of smartness (chap.2); one chapter (chap.15) illustrates how 5 European cities (Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Bristol and Bruxelles) are interpreting the Smart City model; one chapter (chap.16) illustrates the ongoing experimentation in 3 Italian metropolitan cities (Milan, Venice and Bologna) directly explained by those who are carrying on the interventions (local technical bodies or associations); the remainder chapters are dedicated each to one of the 12 metropolitan cities analyzed (Milan, Turin, Genoa, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, Bari, Reggio Calabria, Palermo and Catania)./ [Italiano]: Il volume raccoglie i risultati del progetto di ricerca "Governance Analysis Project (GAP) per la Smart Energy City. L'attuazione delle Smart City nelle aree metropolitane in Europa e in Italia" svolto nell'ambito del PON "Smart Energy Master per il governo energetico del territorio" presso l'Università Federico II di Napoli (TeMa Lab del Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale). Il tema delle Smart Cities ha assunto negli ultimi anni una crescente rilevanza nel dibattito scientifico e nella prassi operativa nazionale ed internazionale configurandosi come una delle opportunità per ripensare le città e più in generale la vita delle comunità urbane. Le prime riflessioni, ricerche e progetti sul tema sembrano convergere verso l'idea che uno sviluppo urbano "intelligente" sia frutto non soltanto delle pur necessarie e imprescindibili dotazioni infrastrutturali (capitale fisico) e di una loro continua innovazione, ma anche della qualità del capitale umano, sociale e dell' ambiente naturale, intesi come fattori strategici per lo sviluppo. Una città «smart» è, prima di tutto, una città capace di soddisfare efficacemente i bisogni dei suoi cittadini nel rispetto delle regole imposte dal contesto ambientale. È in tale dibattito che si inquadra il progetto GAP la cui finalità è quella di affrontare il tema della Smart City alla luce della riorganizzazione amministrativa delle grandi città del nostro Paese promossa dalla L. 56/2014. Con un approccio di tipo scientifico, il volume restituisce un quadro completo ed aggiornato di come le città metropolitane italiane ed europee stanno declinando il tema della smart city e ciò grazie alla costruzione di un ampissimo screening rappresentato da oltre 1.000 iniziative tra ricerche, progetti, interventi, tecnologie, ecc .. Inoltre un elemento di originalità della ricerca è rappresentato dal fatto che ad un' analisi compiuta attraverso fonti indirette, è seguita una fase di confronto con gli "attori" (e di ciò si fornisce un'ampia illustrazione nel volume nel quale vengono, tra l' altro, riportati ampi stralci delle interviste effettuate). Ciò ha consentito di restituire un quadro più aderente al vero di quanto oggi si sta sperimentando nelle città italiane ed europee, al di là di facili entusiasmi per interventi e progetti etichettati come "smart", ma per i quali non sempre possono essere individuati contenuti e metodi innovativi. Il volume è articolato in 16 capitoli di cui: due capitoli presentano il confronto tra le 12 città metropolitane italiane, istituite dalla L.56/2014, con riferimento alle sperimentazioni in atto (cap. 1) e agli indicatori di smartness (cap. 14); un capitolo (cap.15) illustra come 5 città europee (Amsterdam, Barcellona, Berlino, Bristol e Bruxelles) stanno interpretando il modello Smart City; un capitolo (cap. 16) illustra le sperimentazioni in atto in 3 città metropolitane italiane (Milano, Venezia, Bologna) raccontate direttamente da coloro che stanno portando avanti gli interventi (tecnici di enti locali o associazioni); i restanti capitoli sono dedicati ognuno ad una delle 12 città metropolitane analizzate (Milano, Torino, Genova, Venezia, Bologna, Firenze, Roma, Napoli, Bari, Reggio Calabria, Palermo e Catania)

Pedestrian routes and accessibility to urban services: an urban rhythmic analysis on people's behaviour before and during the COVID-19.

The emergency of COVID-19 changed the face of our cities, preventing most of the urban activities, limiting travels on large, medium and short distances and drastically reducing the number and the intensity of social relationships. The restrictive measures, imposed to the entire population, sensibly affected the experience of our built environment as well as the assets of pedestrian and cycling network that lead to the achievement of essential urban services. On one hand these limitations drastically imposed a change in the people's habits who spend now more time walking and cycling in absence of any other entertainments; on the other, they have revealed the need of a reorganisation of pedestrians and cycling paths as well as of open spaces. The morphology of these urban spaces are unable to cope with the current social-distancing situation and to adapt to a “new different routine”. Local decision makers face with a new demand of urban space for pedestrian and cycling accessibility which have been so far unexplored. In order to contribute to future planning decisions, the document proposes a comparison between pedestrian flows and accessibility to urban services during the blockade, taking two districts in the city of Aberdeen as a case study. By adopting an urban rhythmic analysis, the selected areas were monitored on a weekly basis during different periods during the days in order to quantify the intensity of the user, the available services and their opening and closing times also change the date obtained from rhythmic analysis they are associated in a GIS environment in order to classify urban areas. Drawn on the concepts of new social distancing and switch of life/working habits as main factors for redesigning the pedestrian and cycling urban spaces, the paper proposes, as a conclusion, specific urban design recommendations in order to deal with emergency situations, such as an outbreak movement limitation

Swarm intelligence in evacuation problems: A review

In this paper authors introduce swarm intelligence’s algorithms (ACO and PSO) to determine the optimum path during an evacuation process. Different PSO algorithms are compared when applied to an evacuation process and results reveal important aspects, as following detaile

Planning, Nature and Ecosystem Services

This book collects the papers presented at INPUT aCAdemy 2019, a special edition of the INPUT Conference hosted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Architecture (DICAAR) of the University of Cagliari. INPUT aCAdemy Conference will focus on contemporary planning issues with particular attention to ecosystem services, green and blue infrastructure and governance and management of Natura 2000 sites and coastal marine areas. INPUT aCAdemy 2019 is organized within the GIREPAM Project (Integrated Management of Ecological Networks through Parks and Marine Areas), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in relation to the 2014-2020 Interreg Italy – France (Maritime) Programme. INPUT aCAdemy 2019 is supported by Società Italiana degli Urbanisti (SIU, the Italian Society of Spatial Planners), Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica (INU, the Italian National Institute of Urban Planning), UrbIng Ricerca Scientifica (the Association of Spatial Planning Scholars of the Italian Schools of Engineering) and Ordine degli Ingegneri di Cagliari (OIC, Professional Association of Engineers of Cagliari).illustratorThis book collects the papers presented at INPUT aCAdemy 2019, a special edition of the INPUT Conference hosted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Architecture (DICAAR) of the University of Cagliari. INPUT aCAdemy Conference will focus on contemporary planning issues with particular attention to ecosystem services, green and blue infrastructure and governance and management of Natura 2000 sites and coastal marine areas. INPUT aCAdemy 2019 is organized within the GIREPAM Project (Integrated Management of Ecological Networks through Parks and Marine Areas), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in relation to the 2014-2020 Interreg Italy – France (Maritime) Programme. INPUT aCAdemy 2019 is supported by Società Italiana degli Urbanisti (SIU, the Italian Society of Spatial Planners), Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica (INU, the Italian National Institute of Urban Planning), UrbIng Ricerca Scientifica (the Association of Spatial Planning Scholars of the Italian Schools of Engineering) and Ordine degli Ingegneri di Cagliari (OIC, Professional Association of Engineers of Cagliari)

Environmental and territorial modelling for planning and design

[English]: Between 5th and 8th September 2018 the tenth edition of the INPUT conference took place in Viterbo, guests of the beautiful setting of the University of Tuscia and its DAFNE Department. INPUT is managed by an informal group of Italian academic researchers working in many fields related to the exploitation of informatics in planning. This Tenth Edition pursed multiple objectives with a holistic, boundary-less character, to face the complexity of today socio-ecological systems following a systemic approach aimed to problem solving. In particular, the Conference will aim to present the state of art of modeling approaches employed in urban and territorial planning in national and international contexts. Moreover, the conference has hosted a Geodesign workshop, by Carl Steinitz (Harvard Graduate School of Design) and Hrishi Ballal (on skype), Tess Canfield, Michele Campagna. Finally, on the last day of the conference, took place the QGIS hackfest, in which over 20 free software developers from all over Italy discussed the latest news and updates from the QGIS network. The acronym INPUT was born as INformatics for Urban and Regional Planning. In the transition to graphics, unintentionally, the first term was transformed into “Innovation”, with a fine example of serendipity, in which a small mistake turns into something new and intriguing. The opportunity is taken to propose to the organizers and the scientific committee of the next appointment to formalize this change of the acronym. This 10th edition was focused on Environmental and Territorial Modeling for planning and design. It has been considered a fundamental theme, especially in relation to the issue of environmental sustainability, which requires a rigorous and in-depth analysis of processes, a theme which can be satisfied by the territorial information systems and, above all, by modeling simulation of processes. In this topic, models are useful with the managerial approach, to highlight the many aspects of complex city and landscape systems. In consequence, their use must be deeply critical, not for rigid forecasts, but as an aid to the management decisions of complex systems.[Italiano]:Dal 5 all’8 settembre 2018 l’Università della Tuscia e il Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali - DAFNE hanno ospitato la decima edizione del Congresso Internazionale INPUT. INPUT è un gruppo informale di ricercatori accademici italiani che operano in molti settori connessi all’uso dell’informatica nella pianificazione. Questa decima edizione del Congresso ha perseguito obiettivi multipli con un carattere olistico, senza confini, per affrontare la complessità degli attuali sistemi socio-ecologici seguendo un approccio sistemico finalizzato alla risoluzione dei problemi. In particolare, la conferenza è stata orientata a presentare lo stato dell'arte degli approcci di modellazione impiegati nella pianificazione urbana e territoriale in contesti nazionali e internazionali. Inoltre, la conferenza ha ospitato un seminario di Geodesign, di Carl Steinitz (Harvard Graduate School of Design) e Hrishi Ballal (via skype), Tess Canfield e Michele Campagna. Infine, l'ultimo giorno della conferenza, si è svolto l’hackfest di QGIS, in cui oltre 20 sviluppatori di software open source provenienti da tutta Italia hanno discusso le ultime novità e gli aggiornamenti dalla rete QGIS. L'acronimo “INPUT” è nato come “INformatics per Urban and Regional Planning”. Nella transizione alla grafica, involontariamente, il primo termine è stato trasformato in "Innovazione", con un bell'esempio di serendipità, in cui un piccolo errore si trasforma in qualcosa di nuovo e intrigante