A spatial decision support system for multifunctional landscape assessment: a transformative resilience perspective for vulnerable inland areas

The concept of transformative resilience has emerged from the recent literature and represents a way to interpret the potential opportunities for change in vulnerable territories, where a socioeconomic change is required. This article extends the perspective of transformative resilience to an assessment of the landscape multifunctionality of inland areas, exploring the potential of identifying a network of synergies among the different municipalities that is able to trigger a process of territorial resilience. A spatial decision support system (SDSS) for multifunctionality landscape assessment aims to help local actors understand local resources and multifunctional values of the Partenio Regional Park (PRP) and surrounding municipalities, in the South of Italy, stimulating their cooperation in the management of environmental and cultural sites and the codesign of new strategies of enhancement. The elaboration of spatial indicators according to Landscape Services classification and the interaction between the “Analytic Network Process” (ANP) method, spatial weighted overly and geographic information system (GIS) support the identification of a preferable scenario able to activate a transformative resilience strategy in selected vulnerable inland areas, which can be scaled up in other similar contexts

A multiple criteria methodology for prioritizing and selecting portfolios of urban projects

This paper presents an integrated methodology supporting decisions in urban planning. In particular, it deals with the prioritization and the selection of a portfolio of projects related to buildings of some values for the cultural heritage in cities. More precisely, our methodology has been validated to the historical center of Naples, Italy. Each project is assessed on the basis of a set of both quantitative and qualitative criteria with the purpose to determine their level of priority for further selection. This step was performed through the application of the Electre Tri-nC method which is a multiple criteria outranking based method for ordinal classification (or sorting) problems and allows to assign a priority level to each project as an analytical "recommendation" tool. To identify the efficient portfolios and to support the selection of the most adequate set of projects to activate, a set of resources (namely budgetary constraints) as well as some logical constraints related to urban policy requirements have to be taken into consideration together with the priority of projects in a portfolio analysis model. The process has been conducted by means of the interaction between analysts, municipality representative and experts. The proposed methodology is generic enough to be applied to other territorial or urban planning problems. We strongly believe that, given the increasing interest of historical cities to restore their cultural heritage, the integrated multiple criteria decision aiding analytical tool proposed in this paper has significant potential to be used in the future

Assessing the sustainability of the city-port transformations: Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) for alternatives portfolio selection.

In recent years, the EU has sought to define sustainable transition pathways towards more equitable, prosperous, and inclusive urban and territorial models, capable of responding to the rapid degradation of ecosystems, and improving quality of life of citizens. In this context, ports have been recognised as key strategic hubs not only for economic and logistical competitiveness, but also to generate employment and investment opportunities, and to address the challenges of the climate change. The research presents a multi-scale, multi-dimensional and multi- group methodological framework to support decision-making processes related to the development of sustainable transformations of port cities, capturing the complexity of interactions and conflicts. Integrating Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approaches and Problem Structuring Methods (PSM), the proposed methodology aims to address the following gaps identified in the literature: (i) a scattered application of multi-group methods; (ii) the lack of social instances within the decision problem; (iii) a weak sustainability perspective; (iv) the use of one-dimensional scale assessment in sectoral studies. The case study of the city-port of Gela in Sicily (Italy) provided an opportunity to test the proposed methodology and to integrate multi-dimensional sustainability issues into feasibility studies, promoting a more balanced relationship between city and port. The interdependencies between environment, society and economy allowed MCDA to be identified as a suitable approach to address complex decision-making and support the sustainability assessment of port areas transformation. Two multi-criteria and multi-group evaluation methods guided the decision-making process to select a portfolio of preferred alternatives by assessing technical, environmental, and economic impacts and analysing stakeholder conflicts and coalitions. The process was carried out as follows: on the one hand, a multidimensional impact matrix integrating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) divided into technical, financial-economic, and environmental categories through the application of the multi-criteria method EVAMIX; on the other hand, a social assessment with a dendrogram of coalitions derived from the application of the multi-group method NAIADE by modelling stakeholders’ preferences regarding a portfolio of alternatives related to the decision problem

Towards operationalizing UNESCO Recommendations on “Historic Urban Landscape”: a position paper

<p>This position paper critically analyses the process to implement the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011), exploring evaluation tools, innovative business / management models and financing tools for the conservation and regeneration of Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), to make it operational in the perspective of a circular economy model of sustainable development for city / territory system regeneration. Through evaluation tools, it is possible to pass from general principles to operational practices; to produce empirical evidence of the economic, social and environmental benefits of HUL integrated conservation and regeneration. The challenge of generating a symbiosis between conservation and transformation issues requires adequate evaluation methods, business, management and financing tools, engaging civil society and local stakeholders, capturing both HUL tangible and intangible values to turn the historic urban landscape into a driver of sustainable growth. The analysis carried out in this paper shows that through the suggested tools it is possible to make operational the UNESCO Recommendations, transforming conflicts into opportunities, producing economic attractiveness and strengthen social awareness and cohesion.</p

Costruire con la gente, una Casa Comunitaria nel villaggio di Santa Cruz Tepetotutla, Oaxaca, Messico

Viaggiare. Aprire gli occhi su realtà lontane e sconosciute, sorprendersi e mettere in discussione convinzioni radicate negli anni. Confrontarsi con la vita di chi lotta ogni giorno per affermare il diritto ad un’esistenza dignitosa. Mettersi alla prova. Lavorare, sporcarsi le mani e impregnarsi di sudore. Vedere giorno per giorno crescere un’idea che acquisisce concretezza, si trasforma in materia. Questo libro, il cui titolo riprende il famoso testo di Hassan Fathy, è il racconto di tutto questo: un viaggio di un gruppo di studenti e giovani architetti, attraverso la progettazione e la costruzione di una Casa Comunitaria, nel villaggio indigeno di Santa Cruz Tepetotutla, nello stato di Oaxaca, Messico. Il Progetto Messico è un progetto didattico di Cooperazione allo Sviluppo in Architettura nato sulla scia del Praktikumsseminar Mexiko, che la professoressa Ingrid Goetz porta avanti da 8 anni nella Technische Universität di Berlino. Di ritorno dall’esperienza berlinese di studio e di cantiere, e laureatasi da pochi mesi in Architettura a Napoli, Roberta Nicchia ha riunito un gruppo di studenti della sua Facoltà di provenienza intorno ad un caso studio concreto, la Casa Comunitaria. Questa è l’elemento propulsore di un progetto di percorso ecoturistico, che parte dal villaggio di Santa Cruz Tepetotutla e coinvolge varie comunità limitrofe. Esso si inserisce in un processo più ampio di “Planeación del Desarrollo Territorial Sustentable de la Chinantla Alta de Oaxaca”, un piano per lo sviluppo sostenibile del territorio, elaborato dagli abitanti della regione nel tentativo di generare forme alternative di reddito. L’Ecoturismo ha cominciato ad attecchire negli ultimi anni tra varie comunità indigene messicane, come risposta allo sfruttamento selvaggio del territorio che si va delineando nel Plan Puebla-Panamà. L’ottica è quella di promuovere la conservazione e valorizzazione del patrimonio naturale e dell’identità di luoghi ancora incontaminati e, allo stesso tempo, di far conoscere le condizioni di vita e la lotta delle popolazioni che difendono le loro terre dalla speculazione in atto. È dal sogno della comunità chinanteca di uscire dallo stato di emarginazione e povertà in cui versa, che ha origine l’Associazione Archintorno. Nell’affrontare questioni logistiche e di mediazione culturale, l’associazione si è avvalsa del prezioso aiuto dell’etnologa Angela Basoli, da anni residente in Messico per studiare da vicino la cultura chinanteca, e dell’ONG di Oaxaca “C.A.M.P.O. A.C.”, partner locale nel progetto, che lavora da oltre venti anni con le comunità della Chinantla Alta. Partendo, dunque, dal progetto di autosviluppo della comunità indigena, il Progetto Messico si pone obiettivi più ampi, affrontando una serie di tematiche legate alla progettazione nelle realtà marginali del Sud del Mondo e, più in generale, ad un diverso modo di fare Architettura. L’attenzione viene posta su temi innovativi e di impegno sociale, su un approccio concreto alle problematiche pratiche dell’esecuzione e su un metodo progettuale partecipativo, che ha coinvolto la comunità e la ONG locale nella elaborazione di un progetto condiviso. Il nostro viaggio parte da Napoli, con il laboratorio interdisciplinare “Progettazione Architettonica per il sud del mondo”, presso la Facoltà di Architettura nell’a.a. 2005/2006. Il corso si è proposto di fornire strumenti teorici e tecnici per l’acquisizione di una metodologia progettuale sensibile alle specificità ambientali, culturali ed economiche dei Paesi del Sud del mondo. Il tema della Casa Comunitaria è stato sviluppato dagli studenti prevedendo la rilettura della cultura dell’abitare, delle risorse e delle tecniche costruttive locali, più o meno tradizionali, nell’ambito di una visione “moderna” e sostenibile. Questo approccio progettuale rappresenta il contributo specifico che abbiamo ritenuto di poter offrire, in quanto giovani architetti, all’incontro interculturale con la comunità indigena messicana. Lo studio e la sperimentazione progettuale, oggetto del laboratorio, trovano pratica applicazione nella fase del cantiere didattico, svoltosi dal 30 novembre 2006 al 22 febbraio 2007, in cui, insieme alla popolazione locale, abbiamo costruito la Casa Comunitaria a Santa Cruz Tepetotutla

Landscape Co-Evaluation Approcci valutativi adattivi per la co-creatività territoriale e l'innovazione locale

Attraverso le valutazioni adattive la tesi esplora il concetto di co-valutazione applicato ai processi di trasformazione che riguardano il paesaggio storico urbano (Unesco, 2011) nell'intento di instaurare rapporti di partnership tra gli attori locali e sviluppare modelli di costruzione delle scelte e di gestione cooperativi. Gli small experiment presentati si collocano nella prospettiva del Valore Sociale Complesso e ne rappresentano una prima applicazione metodologica volta a indagare alla scala locale le potenzialità e l'influenza dei processi dialogico/comunicativi nelle trasformazioni territorial

Collaborative Decision-Making Processes for Local Innovation: The CoULL Methodology in Living Labs Approach

The concept of the Living Lab is closely connected to the priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy and of the Digital Agenda for Europe and is the subject of numerous user-centric open innovation programs and European projects supported by the European ENoLL Network. The chapter presents a new methodology, called Collaborative Urban Living Lab (CoULL), to support the Collaborative Decision-Making Processes to activate local innovation processes at the neighbourhood, city or landscape scale. Starting from the Quintuple Helix framework and the literature review on the Living Lab concept, its extension to the city and territorial context, and the related people-centred approaches have been discussed. The potentials to using them for putting open innovation into practice and developing innovative solutions for the cities have been shown. Nowadays, the built environments need to accelerate the transition to sustainable, climate-neutral, inclusive, resilient, healthy and smart prosperous. In the last few years, the Living Lab approaches have been promoted and used by local and international research and innovation agencies in collaboration with enterprises, NGOs and local governments to find solutions to the new issues. However, the Living Lab methodologies to guide the urban scale’s co-development solutions are few and need more accurate research and experimentations. In that direction, the CoULL methodology, tested in four different research projects (including the REPAiR project), has defined a suitable process for supporting the co-design, co-production and co-decision cycles of urban innovative and sustainable solutions

From Perceived Values to Shared Values: A Multi-Stakeholder Spatial Decision Analysis (M-SSDA) for Resilient Landscapes

This paper puts forth a Multi-Stakeholder Spatial Decision Analysis (M-SSDA) which combines Multi-Stakeholders Decision Analysis (M-SDA) and GIS processing based on a collaborative, hybrid and adaptive evaluative approach to support the elaboration of enhancement strategies designed for resilient landscapes. This methodology has been tested in the research project “Cilento Labscape: An integrated model for the activation of a Living Lab in the National Park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni”, which was conducted in the Cilento National Park (Southern Italy). The aim of the methodology is to find alternative touristic routes for the promotion of the Park. The different steps in the process will be described, as will the employment of multiple tools/techniques (interviews, GIS tools, Semantic Analysis, and Geo-Statistical Analysis) to improve the reliability of the decision-making process. The most relevant results of the methodology will also be outlined in terms of the transition from the identification of the perceived landscape’s values to the acknowledgement of the shared values, and their consequent employment for the outlining of new thematic itineraries for the Park. To realise sustainable territorial strategies and preserve the landscape through bottom-up decision-making processes, the different local communities need to gain a new awareness of their identity shared values and make an active contribution towards promoting and managing their site-specific resources