Productive Waterscapes in the West-South of Europe: Using Circular Economy Theory to Drive the Change from a Linear to a Circular Paradigm of Water and Greenways

Re-thinking, re-design, re-use are the keywords of the ecological economy that seek to link social, economic and environmental aspects together. These fundamental principles can be observed in the theories proposed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and are the basis of the new discipline called “Circular Economy.” Recent studies seem to advise that the transition to sustainability (Foro Springtif 2015) is being stopped for political, cultural, economic, and infrastructural reasons. This article shows and discusses, through presenting different case studies, the situation of the circular economy applied to peri-urban greenways and waterfronts. Presenting obstacles and opportunities, the researchers want to give some advice and trace a method capable of shifting from a linear economy to a circular economy in urbanism and land management. The focus on the historical link between cities and water, shows that the linear economy is in a continuous relationship of love and hate, thanks to the force of the water and the engineering knowledge of the human beings: a strong relationship when water was used for the industrial revolution, of distance and fear when the water was wide and polluted. In the last decade, this relationship seems to be skipped. Thanks to climate change, flood events appear to occur with increasing frequency and intensity, but municipalities allow industry and logistical compounds to settle near the rivers, affecting the aquifer. The paradigm shift to a circular economy should include a democratic society where citizens are promoting different lifestyles and push the decision-makers to develop new strategy and policy. This new vision is well applied in different contexts but doesn’t seem to be able to face and influence the protection of the last ecological corridors present in peri-urban areas, the reclaiming of derelict and polluted industrial areas, and the development of a virtuous approach to new industrial and logistical settlements. The conclusion of the paper collects positive case studies, using them to show some methods and strategies able to drive the change through a new balance between ecological restoration and economic development. Re-thinking, re-design, re-use are keywords of the ecological economy that seek to link social, economic and environmental aspect together

Green Belt of Brescia, Lombardy. From Resilience Strategy to Sustainable Planning in Practice.

The paper focuses on the methods on which it is built the planning strategy for the ‘Parco delle Cave’ (Park of Pits) in Brescia (Lombardy, Italy). This research, begun in 2010 thanks to the insights offered by a master\u27s degree thesis, in February 2016 led to the approval of the variation to Plan of Government of the Territory of the City of Brescia. The authors, at the time, respectively, supervisor and author of the thesis ‘Park of Pits, from protest to proposal\u27 have gradually followed the different stages of approach to the proposed variant through a real multidisciplinary action. The argument that the study and promotion of the realities present in the Brescia area would give a sum of positive values such that they would automatically lead to a virtuous model for the creation of a territorial landscape system has proved partly correct and partly not. At the moment, this large area represents a great solution of continuity in the ecological green belt that surrounds Brescia, not allowing the basis for the correct development of a natural habitat hosting biodiversity and blocking the completion of town outskirts greenway. This research indicates in the ‘Parco delle Cave’ (Pits’ Park) as the necessary ring to complete the Brescia green belt that includes the ‘Parco delle Colline di Brescia’ (Brescia Hills Park), the linear park of the River Mella, and a strong vegetal system along the South Brescia highway (proposed also)

Sant’Agabio Resiliente: inclusion and solidarity for the urban environment

This paper presents the work of the Politecnico di Milano for the “Together It Can Be Done: Sant’Agabio Resiliente” project funded by the Cariplo foundation (2016). Inspired by the principles of the Transition Towns movement, the study intervenes in a multiethnic neighborhood of the Municipality of Novara with innovative actions that enhance the quality of urban environment. The original contribution of the project was the activation of the resilience of a community that is in the process of rehabilitation with goals of solidarity, inclusiveness, participation, and autonomy for the future. The strategies adopted have allowed the involvement of associations in activities relevant to environmental resilience and the facilitation of concrete actions able to generate empathy