Corrado Zoppi

Empirical Evidence on Agricultural Land-Use Change in Sardinia, Italy, from GIS-Based Analysis and a Tobit Model

ABSTRACT An important part of the Sardinian Regional Operational Programme (ROP) 2000–2006 is represented by the policies funded by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), aimed at maintaining agricultural land uses and improving the quality of agricultural land. Such investments, spread over almost all Sardinian cities, attempted to support local development based on the traditional primary sector of production. This article analyses the investment policies implemented by the Sardinian Region through the 2000–2006 EAGGF-based part of the ROP (2000–2006 ROP-EAGGF), in order to assess their effectiveness. This assessment of effectiveness, implemented in the context of other signals concerning local development such as income and urbanization, is very important to address the ongoing policies of the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme and the question of geographic concentration of investments. The article analyses the results of the 2000–2006 ROP-EAGGF through a geographic informat...

Ecosystem Services and the Natura 2000 Network: A Study Concerning a Green Infrastructure Based on Ecological Corridors in the Metropolitan City of Cagliari

An important set of ecosystem services (ESs) delivered by green infrastructure (GI) is based on habitats and species protection and enhancement, that is on maintaining and improving biodiversity. Indeed, the second objective of the European Biodiversity Strategy recommends that ecosystems and their services are maintained and enhanced by establishing GI and restoring at least a 15% of the ecosystems which show up significant decay. From this perspective, habitat fragmentation can be considered one the most outstanding causes of a decreasing attitude of GI towards the delivery of habitat-based ESs, since it weakens the capacity to deliver such services by undermining the networking potential of habitats. In this study, we propose a study concerning the Metropolitan City of Cagliari which includes seventeen municipalities into a unique system of metropolitan government. Sixteen Natura 2000 sites (N2Ss) are located in the City, which amount to about 30% of the metropolitan area. We propose a methodological approach to identify ecological corridors (ECs) between N2Ss, based on the prioritization of functional land patches related to their suitability to deliver ESs concerning biodiversity maintenance and enhancement. The methodology consists of two steps: i. identifying the most suitable patches to be included in ECs on the basis of their accessibility, that is, on their negative attitude towards contributing to landscape fragmentation; ii. assessing, through a discrete-choice-model, the ECs identified through point i in terms of their suitability to be included in a metropolitan GI, starting from the territorial taxonomy based on biodiversity characteristics connected to N2Ss, habitat suitability, and recreational and landscape potentials.

Social Media-Related Geographic Information in the Context of Strategic Environmental Assessment of Municipal Masterplans: A Case Study Concerning Sardinia (Italy)

This paper proposes a discussion concerning the use of social media-related geographic information in the context of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of Sardinian Municipal masterplans (MMPs). We show that this kind of information improves, substantially, the SEA process since it provides planners, evaluators, and the local communities with information retrieved from social media that would have not been available otherwise. This information integrates authoritative data collection, which comes from official sources, and enlightens tastes and preferences of the users of services and infrastructure, and their expectations concerning their spatial organization. A methodological approach related to the collection of social media-related geographic information is implemented and discussed with reference to the urban context of the city of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy). The results are very effective in terms of provision of information, which may possibly increase the spatial knowledge available for planning policy definition and implementation. In this perspective, this kind of information discloses opportunities for building analytical scenarios related to urban and regional planning and it offers useful suggestions for sustainable development based on tourism strategies.

An Ontology of the Strategic Environmental Assessment of City Masterplans

Following a discussion on the semantics of the term “ontology”, this paper discusses some key points concerning the ontology of the Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure applied to city Masterplans, using sustainability as a reference point. It also assumes the implementation of Guidelines of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia as an experimental context, with the objective of proposing the SEA ontology as an important contribution to improve SEA’s effectiveness.

An Ontology of the Appropriate Assessment of Municipal Master Plans Related to Sardinia (Italy)

This paper discusses some key points related to the ontology of the “appropriate assessment” [1] procedure concerning plans significantly affecting Natura 2000 sites. We study this ontology by discussing its implementation into the adjustment process of the master plans of the regional municipalities of Sardinia (Italy) to the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP) and put as evidence some important general observations, coming from the case study, concerning the utility and effectiveness of the ontological conceptual framework in order to help planners and decision-makers understand and structure the assessment process of plans.

Contingent Valuation of renewable energy innovations: vegetal biomass in Italy

Warming-up of the planet and scarcity of conventional energy resources has led to aim of reducing the consumption of fossil fuels and the development of innovative renewable technologies for energy production. However, innovations and investments in renewable energy can encounter resistance of local communities. This makes planning for the development of Renewable Energy Source-based power plants often very difficult. Against this background, we investigate the level of social consensus on and support of the development of an energy plant based on the use of vegetal biomass in Central Sardinia, Italy. The method adopted is Contingent Valuation. Estimates of ex-ante household Willingness To Pay are implemented, as they are important indicators of the social endorsement for the project development. Implications concerning consensus/disagreement on innovative technologies for sustainable energy production are discussed as perspectives of future research.

Integrating Green Infrastructure and Ecological Corridors: A Study Concerning the Metropolitan Area of Cagliari (Italy)

Green Infrastructure (GI) is defined as a network of natural and semi-natural areas that need to be planned in a strategic way to deliver ecosystem services (ESs). This definition highlights two important concepts: multifunctionality and connectivity. Multifunctionality concerns the capacity of a single area to deliver several benefits and to perform multiple functions. The concept of connectivity is often linked to ecological corridors (ECs), defined as spatial elements that connect habitats, allowing species migration and genetic exchange. Consequently, the spatial identification of GIs and ECs in spatial planning is a noteworthy topic. In this study, we propose a three-step methodological approach to identify a multifunctional GI and ECs connecting Natura 2000 sites (N2Ss) in the case study of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Italy.

Planning for the Conservation of Historic Districts in Sardinia, Italy

A comparison between Sardinian strategic plans (SPs) and implementation plans of historic centers (IPHCs) shows that a general lack of coordination and integration among these municipal planning instruments and a sort of a communicative short circuit are taking place. On the one hand, SPs tend to neglect the importance and the intrinsic value of cultural heritage within historic districts, and, consequently, to undervalue the systemic and general potential of interventions (often limited to punctual and fragmented restorations of buildings) in the historic centers; and, on the other hand, IPHCs propose analyses of municipal historic settlement systems characterized by excessively philological and self-referential attitudes. This paper proposes a discussion on the definition and implementation of IPHCs with the general goal of orienting their conservative character, mainly based on the urban settlement system’s restoration and restructuring, in order to generate conditions favorable to local economic and social development, following the strategic planning conceptual framework. Moreover, within the framework of the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP), and after providing the reader with a thorough presentation of some important technical issues related to IPHCs and a discussion on the semantics of the term “ontology,” this paper discusses some key points concerning the ontology of the IPHCs procedure, that is the spatial analysis of the IPHCs and implied planning measures.

An Ontology of Implementation Plans of Historic Centers: A Case Study Concerning Sardinia, Italy

This paper discusses some key points related to the ontology of implementation plans of historic centers (IPHCs). We study this ontology by discussing its implementation in the context of the provisions of the Sardinian Regional Landscape Plan (RLP), and put in evidence some important general observations, coming from the case study, concerning the utility and effectiveness of the ontological conceptual framework in order to help planners and decision makers understand and structure the assessment process of implementation plans.

VAS e piani urbanistici comunali in Sardegna: un’integrazione possibile

La Valutazione Ambientale Strategica (VAS) di un piano urbanistico e un processo valutativo finalizzato alla realizzazione, nei momenti decisionale ed attuativo, dell’integrazione di obiettivi ed azioni di piano per lo sviluppo locale, economico e sociale, e la tutela delle risorse ambientali, cioe orientati al paradigma dello sviluppo sostenibile. Questo orizzonte concettuale e assunto, in questo saggio, per descrivere ed analizzare, in termini critici, il processo di adeguamento dei piani urbanistici dei comuni della Sardegna al Piano paesaggistico regionale. La discussione che si propone evidenzia come l’interpretazione del paradigma della sostenibilita nei processi di adeguamento dei piani comunali sia una chiave di lettura efficace per riconoscere aspetti negativi e positivi nella prassi della VAS in Sardegna.