Alessia Pica

The Aeterna Urbs Geomorphological Heritage (Rome, Italy)

The largest European cities are characterised by millennia of urbanisation. ‘Man-made layering’ over time has modified the original natural setting on which these cities have developed, but an expert eye can often still recognise the ancient geomorphological features of the landscape. We show an example of the identification of the original geomorphological characteristics of the landscape over which the city centre of Rome developed, by means of a geomorphological survey conducted in this urban environment. The aim of the analysis is the enhancement of geotourism in the city centre, by describing the palaeogeography of ancient Rome through the landforms that are still visible. The geomorphological survey led to the identification of two geomorphosites. We developed an evaluation model of the Geotourist Value of a Site (VSG index), which consists of the quantification of five fundamental attributes for a geosite, characterizing its scientific and geotourist interests. The VSG index produces an order of priority for geosites for their enhancement. These results are transferred to the proposal for a geotourist itinerary, along which the selected geosites are joined and related to the historical and cultural features of the city. The itinerary is also represented on a geotourist map, created through the union of scientific and popularised electronic devices. The major outcome of this study is to supplement a proposal for the developing the historical and cultural tourism of the Aeterna Urbs combined with its natural environment features, highlighting the importance of the close connection between these themes.

GeoGuides, Urban Geotourism Offer Powered by Mobile Application Technology

Scientific research about geological and geomorphological heritage recently proved to be the base of new opportunities for tourism. The peculiar case of urban landscape analysis offers new frontiers to the traditional urban cultural tourism. The tourism offer based on natural aspects of urban areas is described in this paper thanks to three examples of urban geotourism tools: GeoGuide Lausanne, TOURinSTONES and GeoGuide Rome mobile applications. Each case focuses on the transfer of geoscientific knowledge from scientific research to the “tourist” content, with the innovative support of the mobile application technology. The apps contribute to the promotion of the links between cultural and geological heritages, which is the goal of urban geotourism: to convey the message that substrate profoundly influences the culture that is established on it. The mobile application technology has many strengths for interpretation, e.g. by overlaying images or adding sounds and videos, which allow the visitors to discover landforms now covered by buildings and infrastructures; it has also technical strengths, such as looking for additional information and organizing the city visit at home or to reexperience it after the trip. The apps do not have any impact on the field; they are concise, easy to read, interactive and funny. The public understanding of science is very important; it helps enhancing the role of the researchers and the impact of their work on the society and the daily lives of citizens. In this context, GeoGuide apps are useful to transfer knowledge and make it usable to people.

Geomorphological classification of urban landscapes: the case study of Rome (Italy)

ABSTRACT The results of a long-lasting geomorphological survey carried out in Rome are summarized. A method aimed at integrating survey data, historical maps, aerial photographs and archaeological and geomorphological literature produced a geomorphological map of the present-day historical centre. The geomorphology of Rome is related to the paleogeographical conditions prior to the founding of the City; they allow us to recognize the stages of landscape evolution of the ancient Caput Mundi (Capital of the World). The study area has been affected by continuous man-made changes to the drainage network and to the topographic surface over the last 3000 years. It has forced the authors to develop innovative solutions to undertake effective analysis of the urban environment and the legend of the geomorphological map in this peculiar context. The resulting map is useful for urban planning and archaeological research.

Urban Geomorphological Heritage. An Overview

Abstract Urbanization is a global phenomenon and currently more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Studies on geomorphological heritage and the development of specific methods of investigation (assessment, inventories, cartography) are, however, relatively rare and limited. This paper first describes the relationships between urbanization and geomorphology. Secondly, it presents an overview of the main works on the urban geomorphological heritage. Then, the main methods of investigation are presented. Finally, we discuss the challenging issues concerning the protection and the promotion of the urban geomorphological heritage.

Contribution for an Urban Geomorphoheritage Assessment Method: Proposal from Three Geomorphosites in Rome (Italy)

Abstract Urban geomorphology has important implications in spatial planning of human activities, and it also has a geotouristic potential due to the relationship between cultural and geomorphological heritage. Despite the introduction of the term Anthropocene to describe the deep influence that human activities have had in recent times on Earth evolution, urban geomorphological heritage studies are relatively rare and limited and urban geotourism development is recent. The analysis of the complex urban landscape often need the integration of multidisciplinary data. This study aims to propose the first urban geomorphoheritage assessment method, which originates after long-lasting previous geomorphological and geotouristic studies on Rome city centre, it depict rare examples of the geomorphological mapping of a metropolis and, at the same time, of an inventory of urban geomorphosites. The proposal is applied to geomorphosites in the Esquilino neighbourhood of Rome, whose analysis confirm the need for an ad hoc method for assessing urban geomorphosites, as already highlighted in the most recent literature on the topic. The urban geomorphoheritage assessment method is based on: (i) the urban geomorphological analysis by means of multitemporal and multidisciplinary data; (ii) the geomorphosite inventory; and (iii) the geomorphoheritage assessment and enhancement. One challenge is to assess invisible geomorphosites that are widespread in urban context. To this aim, we reworked the attributes describing the Value of a site for Geotourism in order to build up a specific methodology for the analysis of the urban geomorphological heritage.

The Potential of Permanent Gullies in Europe as Geomorphosites

Geotourism is a useful way to educate societies in the field of geomorphology and related natural hazards. Geosites, including geomorphosites, represent the basis for the development of this type of tourism. This study describes 12 representative gully regions within nine European countries. The characteristics of 42 permanent gullies, gully systems, and badland landscapes are presented. Based on scientific values of the sites, educational lessons to be learned were identified that are mainly related to (i) gullies as a geological window, (ii) present-day geomorphological processes and (iii) stages of historical gully erosion reflecting past human–environment interactions. To evaluate possible education activities, a geotouristic assessment of the studied gullies and badlands was made, based on scientific, educational, functional and touristic indicators. This assessment demonstrates a large difference between the selected gully and badland sites, particularly with regard to functional and tourist values. The geotouristic potential of gullies (badlands) is the highest in Italy and Spain and the lowest in Romania and Latvia. In some countries, permanent gullies are not regarded as geotouristic attractions at all, while in others, they constitute a significant element of their tourism development strategy. In our opinion, all activities must be part of a broader strategy for the development of geotourism in gully and badland regions, for example, gullies may be included as geosites within existing or planned geoparks.

Directions in Geoheritage Studies: Suggestions from the Italian Geomorphological Community

In recent years, more and more attention has been focused on geological and geomorphological heritage. This has led to several investigations within the framework of conservation projects, both at administrative and scientific levels, involving national and international research groups whose purposes are the promotion of Earth Sciences knowledge and the conservation of geological heritage. This paper presents an overview of research and conservation projects in Italy, focusing mainly on geomorphological heritage. Members of the AIGeo Working Group on “Geomorphosites and cultural landscape” analysed the historical development of these research projects in order to identify possible innovation strategies to improve the awareness and knowledge of geodiversity and geoheritage of a wider public.

Estimation of the thickness of anthropogenic deposits in historical urban centres: An interdisciplinary methodology applied to Rome (Italy)

In historical urban centres, the superimposition of excavation and deposition activities over time has resulted in an irregular spatial distribution of anthropogenic deposits, which may reach considerable thicknesses. The detection of those thicknesses requires extensive investigations. Broad borehole and geophysical campaigns cost time and money, consequently at the urban-planning level, it is usual to shift to an estimation of thicknesses, which may be performed through map-algebra operations, that is, by subtracting from the modelled ground surface the elevation of the anthropogenic-deposit basal surface. The latter is implemented through the interpolation of point elevation data, which are generally provided by borehole logs. Despite the development of advanced spatial interpolation methodologies, previous modelling results in the literature show that if the process is affected by insufficient input data, it produces imprecise interpolation outputs. This paper reports an interdisciplinary methodology aiming at enhancing elevation datasets, in order to obtain more accurate digital elevation models. The increase in number and spatial distribution of input points is achieved through past-landscape analyses mainly based on elevation data given by borehole logs, available archaeological reports and historical topographic maps, these being generally available for historical urban centres. The methodology was tested in an urban sector of Rome, where significant activities have been performed for millennia particularly during the Roman Age. A reliable model of the basal surface of the anthrostrata led to a better estimation of the spatial distribution of such deposits and, in addition, revealed the original topographic surface, as modified by human activities.