Can the integration of the environmental dimension make a metropolitan context smart? An argument about planning in the recently established Metropolitan City of Cagliari and the Natura 2000 Network

Abstract

In accordance with Article 3 of the Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (Habitats Directive), Natura 2000 is a coherent Ecological Network (EN), distributed throughout the European Union, that includes Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), mentioned in the Habitats Directive, and Special Protection Areas (SPAs), mentioned in the Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 (Birds Directive, modified by the Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds). In the context of scenarios based on ecosystem relationships, the strategic concept of EN can mitigate biological issues on natural components related to the high pressure of human activities. These activities generate impacts and fragmentations in the matrix of ecosystems. Environmental fragmentation and connectivity of ecosystems are crucial points for implementing sustainability concepts in territorial government processes. For a good governance and to make the necessary correction in environmental management, the achievement of urban and regional quality, compared with this issues, is essential. Planning in ecological connectivity needs an appropriate conceptual EN model about the Natura 2000 Network, in order to reason about elements defined in Article 10 of the Habitats Directive. In the last years, in Europe, the phenomenon of metropolitan growth is rising and the issue of government in metropolitan contexts assumes considerable importance. Indeed, most of the EU inhabitants live currently in metropolitan areas, where they generate more than two thirds of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Europe. The European Commission, in order to the Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, urges Member States to adopt an urban agenda regarding several features (e.g. limitation of land use, urban regeneration, transport infrastructure and sustainable mobility). These aspects can help to making cities smarter integrating environmental dimension. Indeed, this work is based on the recent debate concerning Italian metropolitan cities, focusing on the environmental context of the Natura 2000 Network related to one of the most populated areas of Sardinia: the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, recently established. Many sites of the Natura 2000 Network are included in this metropolitan area and they are ruled by management plans. In the current debate on approaches to metropolitan planning, we discuss the implementation of the Natura 2000 Network into public policy and governance, in order to achieve smart practices in planning. These approaches are decisive to set up an evaluative knowledge taking into account the eco-environmental sphere represented by the EN. For this purpose, we propose a qualitative approach based on habitat suitability of a specific species in order to interpret its possible movements through the metropolitan area. Habitat suitability models allow to put in evidence relationships between species and environment; this constitutes an important initial basis to assess potential distribution of each species in the metropolitan area. This issue can relate to the Natura 2000 Network management, both as nodal and as connective elements, in planning in metropolitan contexts. In our opinion, the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a fundamental process for integrating environmental considerations into plans and programs and it allows to formulate objectives and to support monitoring of plans. We believe “environmental smart” could be meaning the implementing of this ecological concepts into public policy and governance, based on the sustainability theory. Our position is that to becoming smarter, the Metropolitan City of Cagliari should become more environmentally sustainable and aware of its environmental heritage