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Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 43628

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Paola Di Biagi

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa, 1, 34127 Trieste TS, Italy
Interests: regeneration of urban suburbs; social housing and public neighborhoods; urban agriculture, food, and the redevelopment of public suburbs; gender approaches to the design and transformation of urban space

Dr. Sara Basso

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa, 1, 34127 Trieste TS, Italy
Interests: urban projects and climate change; urban regeneration and food processes; public facilities and rights to cities

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alessandra Marin

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa, 1, 34127 Trieste TS, Italy
Interests: participatory urban planning; safeguard and enhancement of cultural heritage; sustainable planning; environmental design; ecological transition; management of risk

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Green Deal and the sustainability perspectives through which we look at cities and territories today highlight the complexity of the challenges that urban planning is facing. This complexity can be attributed to several factors.

Environmental challenges require us, on the one hand, to design responses to rapid and sudden events (such as the effects of climate change or pandemic events), increasing the quality of built and open spaces. On the other hand, they invite us to rethink the role of nature in the city through strategies that aim to increase urban resilience, improve the health of its inhabitants, guarantee food production, etc. Equally significant social challenges, moreover, urge us to rethink cities to make them accessible to all, especially socially vulnerable groups, allowing them to benefit from the services and resources of urban contexts.

Finally, in this context, numerous self-organization practices, where inhabitants and associations acquire a decisive role in urban transformation processes, press us to consider a greater level of complexity in the framework of actors who can participate in a Green Deal city project.

In the face of these conditions, we solicit contributions on the following issues.

How can a resilient transformation of open and public urban spaces be guaranteed by welcoming, at different scales, different forms of nature within them?
How can safer and more accessible spaces be designed through experimental design techniques and methods, such as Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs)?
How can ‘bottom-up processes and practices’ innovate urban planning regulatory tools and design rules towards approaches that are more shared and open to the community?

We favour contributions that combine theoretical reflections with concrete research and project experiences.

Prof. Dr. Paola Di Biagi
Dr. Sara Basso
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alessandra Marin
Guest Editors

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Keywords

bottom-up practices
nature-based solutions
tools and techniques
urban project
open urbanism
tactical urbanism
climate action
public spaces
urban agriculture

Published Papers (10 papers)

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13 pages, 3263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Landscape Architecture and the Green Deal Dare: Five Successful Experiences in Urban Open Spaces

by Maria Livia Olivetti

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8751; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148751 - 18 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2229

Abstract

The present work focuses on European cities’ environments and open spaces, aiming to demonstrate how, through landscape architecture, it is possible to respond effectively to many of the ecological and social hardships that the Green Deal aspires to alleviate. It was signed in 2019 by all of the member countries of the Union, seeks to reverse the climate change trend by establishing a series of goals for improving environmental and economic quality for 2030 and 2050 and also aims to enact social justice in rural areas and in the urban environment. Landscape architecture, which is the art of combining the physical and immaterial elements in cities’ open spaces, is taken in this work as the method of interpreting the existing environment. The description, together with the narrative analysis of five selected site-specific urban renovations projects carried out in the last 15 years by some of the main contemporary landscape architects, such as Micheal Desvigne, Peter Latz and Gilles Clément, demonstrates, by means of their empirical experiences, the benefits of the landscape design. It is able to match both the ecological need expressed in the Deal and to respond to the ambition of an open and rightful city, as called for by the theories of Sennet and Balmori. In order to reach the just transition and to leave no one behind, and to meet and to implement the Green Deal objectives, the new, positive and long-lasting explained transformations require the consideration of landscape design, in all its material and immaterial components, as a theoretical synthesis capable of obtaining a practical application in fighting climate change, and it should be considered and included in city management policies and in the Deal, too. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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20 pages, 3615 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Political Response to the COVID-19 Crisis in Italy: A First Assessment for the National Food System

by Francesca Curcio and Davide Marino

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7241; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127241 - 13 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2166

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore the policies that have been implemented and planned in relation to the impacts that the COVID-19 health crisis has had on the Italian food system. This is an evaluation exercise useful to understand what the directions imprinted on the food system will be in relation to some frameworks of particular importance at the international level, such as the 2030 Agenda, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Biodiversity Strategy, the UN Food Summit, and the agroecological perspective. The article is divided into multiple sections. In paragraph 1.1 and 1.2, the shocks generated by COVID-19 in the global context and in the Italian national context are examined. In both, attention is drawn to changes in GDP, employment, poverty, and the food system. In paragraph 2, the methodological approach, based on the DPSIR model, is explained, as well as the materials used for the drafting of the work. From paragraph 3.1 to 3.4, all of the components (Driving Forces, Pressures, States, Impacts) of the DPSIR model are analyzed. In paragraph 3.5, attention is focused on all policy responses implemented during COVID-19, both on the Italian and European side. In paragraph 4, a detailed analysis of the Italian responses is made in order to fully understand the degree of influence on the Italian economy and food system. The analysis carried out, therefore, highlights the socioeconomic threats faced by the Italian government and the main measures adopted to counter them. Through a critical analysis of policies, it was possible to identify their criticalities and propose possible integrations, starting from the concept of “syndemia”. This concept was introduced in the 1990s by Merril Singer, and in this paper, it plays an important role because it takes into account the negative effects of the pandemic at the economic, health, and social levels and the importance of the sustainability of the food chain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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25 pages, 6874 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Sustainable Strategies for Urban and Landscape Regeneration Related to Agri-Cultural Heritage in the Urban-Periphery of South Milan

by Julia Nerantzia Tzortzi, Laura Guaita and Aspassia Kouzoupi

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6581; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116581 - 27 May 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4559

Abstract

Urban Sprawl, and the fragmentation of the territory associated with it, are factors degrading the peri-urban areas in many European cities. The aim of this research is to investigate the role that Green Infrastructure (GI) and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can have in redefining peri-urban areas, relating urban and rural landscapes. The case study focuses on the Southern Milan periphery, at the rural-urban transition fringe; the transformation pressures, tendencies, and local activities are approached, and the main problems are juxtaposed to the potentialities, defining simultaneously the site’s vulnerability and latent resilience. The elaboration of a research-by-design approach focuses on the refurbishment and interconnection of disused open spaces and abandoned buildings: converting them in favor of a GI and NBS network, through a perspective of Ecosystem Services (ES) enhancement, but also encompassing cultural heritage and multicultural aspects. The overall design demonstrates the possibility of deploying an infiltration strategy, of the rural landscape into the urban fringe. The objective is to articulate a multiscalar methodology and give insights on how a GI network can rebalance urban-rural transitioning spaces and enhance ES, improving the quality of marginal spaces both in environmental and socio-cultural terms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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16 pages, 3727 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Twin for Urban Planning in the Green Deal Era: A State of the Art and Future Perspectives

by Giorgio Caprari, Giordana Castelli, Marco Montuori, Marialucia Camardelli and Roberto Malvezzi

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6263; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106263 - 20 May 2022

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 8920 | Correction

Abstract

This paper provides a state of the art of contemporary Digital Twins (DTs) projects for urban planning at an international level. The contribution investigates the evolution of the DT concept and contextualises this tool within the scientific-cultural debate, highlighting the interconnection between global policies and local needs/wishes. Specifically, six case studies of DTs are compared, illustrating their application, content, technological infrastructure, and priority results. The projects presented provide an overview of the existing DT typologies, focusing on the evaluative/prefigurative use and the limits/potential of the tool in light of the socio-health, climate, and environmental crises. Reflections on DT reveal, on the one hand, its potential role in supporting decision-making and participatory processes and, on the other, the potential utopian trend of data-driven planning encouraged by public–private investments in the smart city/twin city sector. In conclusion, the study underlines the innovative role of DT as a cutting-edge scientific format in the disciplinary framework but highlights that the practical use of the tool is still in an experimental research-action phase. From this theoretical-critical review, it is possible to hypothesise new research paths to implement the realism and application potential of DTs for urban planning and urban governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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29 pages, 3667 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Urban Transition and the Return of Neighbourhood Planning. Questioning the Proximity Syndrome and the 15-Minute City

by Elena Marchigiani and Bertrando Bonfantini

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5468; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095468 - 02 May 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 10578

Abstract

European policies acknowledge cities’ major roles in building greener and just urban habitats. When rethinking cities’ spatial organisation, the call is for creating better liveability conditions at the level closest to citizens. In this frame, research into the impacts of COVID-19 has led to a revival of neighbourhood planning and the 15-Minute City has been proposed as a successful model for cities’ recoveries in the name of regained proximity to collective facilities. This article questions the long-lasting neighbourhood image that the 15-Minute City refers to, by exploring recent experiences that renewed its application. We begin with a literature review, and then develop an evidence-based approach to a deeper analysis of policy design and implementation focusing on the Italian city of Milano. Discussion and conclusions highlight critical issues and potentials of the 15-Minute City. If the threat is that of a simplified and rhetorical use of this idea, its ability to gather plural actions under an appealing flagship can be a powerful driver for urban regeneration policies. However, being more than just a reproducible spatial model, the 15-Minute City needs to be handled as a complex planning device, whose effective implementation depends on the specific characteristics of the urban environments it applies to and on the strong intertwining of different policy fields and tools. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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32 pages, 8077 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ecopolitana: A Plan of Cities, Territory, Landscape, and Ecology

by Luca Del Fabbro Machado, Adriano Venudo, Alfredo Altobelli, Jennifer Bertuzzi, Francesca Zampieri and Angela Gatti

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4044; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074044 - 29 Mar 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2050

Abstract

A national green planning strategy has recently been introduced in the Italian urban planning sector, aimed at making all local initiatives undertaken nationwide consistent with each other. At a regional level, Friuli Venezia-Giulia has recently implemented a Landscaping Plan, which is of an urban planning and ecological nature at an intermediate level between national and local. This article describes the local green plan of Latisana, which has been titled Ecopolitana, given that it represents the experimental phase, at a regional level, of the possibilities offered by landscape planning and design. Specifically, it outlines the multi-disciplinary approach used, demonstrating how landscape planning can be compared to the sustainable development of cities, with specific regard to the agricultural sector. In this regard, a low-intensity cropping model is also suggested, based on the principles of agroecology and landscape ecology, which has already been implemented in the historical rural landscape of Plasencis (UD) and investigated through GIS analysis and remote sensing processes. Its aim is to be the starting point for the achievement of the goals set in the 2030 Agenda, especially Goals 13 (climate action) and 15 (life on land), given the current scarcity of agroecological infrastructures in the area of Latisana (UD) and the high percentage of soil used for intensive cropping. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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20 pages, 6345 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Downscaling Food System for the ‘Public City’ Regeneration—An Experience of Social Agriculture in Trieste

by Sara Basso, Paola Di Biagi and Valentina Crupi

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2769; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052769 - 26 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2277

Abstract

The relationship between food and cities has been recognized as an area of interest for urban planning only recently, thanks to measures adopted at various government levels, locally and internationally. Rethinking the processes of food production, distribution, sale, consumption and recycling in a sustainable and socially equitable way can contribute to making cities fairer, healthier and more resilient to climate change. Starting from these premises, our contribution explores, in particular, the hypothesis that rethinking the relationship between food and urban space can provide an opportunity to promote socio-spatial regeneration processes of public housing neighbourhoods, through projects and actions that involve their inhabitants. This hypothesis is argued starting from a project experience developed in Borgo San Sergio, a district of Trieste, Italy, which aims to consolidate and enhance practices of cultivation and distribution of food, but also of environmental education. The aim of the project is to create a short supply chain in which social agricultural enterprises are involved. The critical reflection stemming from the case study outlines some possible fields of intervention for an urban planning practice aimed at bringing the food system back to an urban and local scale—downscaling—with social and environmental justice goals consistent with the European Green Deal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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34 pages, 3966 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Decision Support System to Enable Crowd Identify Neighborhood Issues and Its Solutions for Policy Makers: An Online Experiment at Kabul Municipal Level

by Jawad Haqbeen, Sofia Sahab, Takayuki Ito and Paola Rizzi

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5453; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105453 - 13 May 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3905

Abstract

Planning a city is a systematic process that includes time, space, and groups of people who must communicate. However, due to security problems in such war-ravaged countries as Afghanistan, the traditional forms of public participation in the planning process are untenable. In particular, due to gathering space difficulties and culture issues in Afghanistan, women and religious minorities are restricted from joining male-dominated powerholders’ face-to-face meetings which are nearly always held in fixed places called masjids (religious buildings). Furthermore, conducting such discussions with human facilitation biases the generation of citizen decisions that stimulates an atmosphere of confrontation, causing another decision problem for urban policy-making institutions. Therefore, it is critical to find approaches that not only securely revolutionize participative processes but also provide meaningful and equal public consultation to support interactions among stakeholders to solve their shared problems together. Toward this end, we propose a joint research program, namely, crowd-based communicative and deliberative e-planning (CCDP), a blended approach, which is a mixture of using an artificial-intelligence-led technology, decision-support system called D-Agree and experimental participatory planning in Kabul, Afghanistan. For the sake of real-world implementation, Nagoya Institute of Technology (Japan) and Kabul Municipality (Afghanistan) have formed a novel developed and developing world partnership by using our proposed methodology as an emerging-deliberation mechanism to reframe public participation in urban planning processes. In the proposed program, Kabul municipality agreed to use our methodology when Kabul city needs to make a plan with people. This digital field study presents the first practical example of using online decision support systems in the context of the neighborhood functions of Gozars, which are Kabul’s social and spatial urban units. The main objective was to harness the wisdom of the crowd to innovative suggestions for helping policymakers making strategic development plans for Gozars using open call ideas, and for responding to equal participation and consultation needs, specifically for women and minorities. This article presents valuable insights into the benefits of this combined approach as blended experience for societies and cities that are suffering long-term distress. This initiative has influenced other local Afghan governments, including the cities of Kandahar and Herat as well as the country’s central government’s ministry of urban planning and land, which has officially expressed its intention to collaborate with us. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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22 pages, 756 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Nature-Based Solutions and Sustainable Urban Planning in the European Environmental Policy Framework: Analysis of the State of the Art and Recommendations for Future Development

by Claudia de Luca, Sandra Naumann, McKenna Davis and Simona Tondelli

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5021; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095021 - 29 Apr 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3446

Abstract

Sustainable urban planning (SUP) is crucial in the development of sustainable cities, as also underlined by the New Urban Agenda. Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being recognized for their potential to offer multiple benefits that are necessary in order to cope with present and future urban challenges. The European policy framework, including the recently released European Green Deal, could strongly boost the role and recognition of NBS and SUP as drivers of sustainable and inclusive urban transition. Through a content analysis of current environmental European policies, strategies and agreements, this paper provides (i) an overview of the state of the art of the environmental European policy framework and the recognized role of NBS and SUP in reaching defined objectives, and (ii) insights on where NBS and SUP could play a larger role within this framework. On this basis, the paper identifies gaps and develops recommendations for a better integration of such concepts into the current framework. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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2 pages, 161 KiB

Open AccessCorrection

Correction: Caprari et al. Digital Twin for Urban Planning in the Green Deal Era: A State of the Art and Future Perspectives. Sustainability 2022, 14, 6263

by Giorgio Caprari, Giordana Castelli, Marco Montuori, Marialucia Camardelli and Roberto Malvezzi

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14893; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214893 - 11 Nov 2022

Viewed by 809

Abstract

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Urban Planning for the Green Deal Era)

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