D. Astiaso Garcia

Eco friendly service buildings and facilities for sustainable tourism and environmental awareness in protected areas

Starting from the multi-year experience in environmentally friendly building projects gained by CITERA of the Faculty of Architecture (Sapienza University of Rome), the main goal of this paper is to apply this expertise for the planning of environmentally sound service buildings and facilities in natural protected areas, in order to increase tourist facilities avoiding the subsequent environmental impacts that too often are produced in areas with high environmental and landscaping values. Therefore, this paper will take into account the relationships between service buildings for tourism and their eventual ecological impacts in the surrounding areas, in order to pinpoint innovative envelope technologies as well as technical smart solutions for a sustainable promotion of tourist facilities, including, in addition to service buildings, even the requalification of paths and water routes. The other central aim of the project is to propose practical methods for the use of these service buildings and facilities as favourable places to disseminate environmental protection notions. Furthermore, the project foresees the application of a case study in the Bracciano-Martignano Regional Park. The obtained results may be used by other protected areas administrations as possible solutions for improving environmental sustainability of their tourism management plans.

Technologies And Strategies To Design Sustainable Tourist Accommodations In Areas Of High Environmental Value Not Connected To The Electricity Grid

As envisaged in the ‘Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism’, the adoption of a holistic and integrated approach and the use of the best available knowledge and technologies are key aspects to ensure sustainable tourism. In particular, policies and actions should be planned by considering the latest and best available knowledge, and, at the same time, analyzing all the related impacts on the area of intervention. In this context, this paper describes an approach to design sustainable tourist accommodations in areas characterized by high environmental value (e.g. natural protected areas) by minimizing the related impacts on the surrounding environment and sensitizing users towards preservation and conservation of natural resources. In fact, the aim of biodiversity conservation included in each rule for a natural protected area requires the application of eco friendly technologies and sustainable strategies for the protection of the natural heritage. In the proposed approach, three aspects of tourist accommodations have been considered: the system component, the building envelope and the integration between them. As a result, the architectural structures designed, including the materials, shape, energy efficiency, modularity and removability, are in line with the standards of bio-architecture. The materials used comply with the technical requirements and the technological needs of tourist accommodations, are mostly recycled or reusable and come from the surrounding area, so they can be easily integrated into the landscape. The components that make up the accommodations are easy to assemble and disassemble, making it possible for them to be reused in another area, without changing the environmental conditions at the new site. Some components are precast and prepared on-site using local materials whose modularity makes them highly suitable for use in different environmental and morphological conditions. To use these architectural structures in places without services and distribution networks for energy and water, special attention has been given to develop innovative and sustainable energy solutions: liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been used as the only energy vector, in combination with a cogeneration plant, to provide heat and electric energy as well as with specific building envelopes that allow the transfer of LPG into the walls to pro vide energy to innovative gas appliances. The environmental impact of the proposed approach was assessed by analyzing the environmental application of these structures in tourist accommodations in the Circeo National Park in Italy.

Eco-architecture and sustainable mobility: an integrated approach in Ladispoli town

This paper presents an eco-architecture project in a public green space of the Ladispoli Municipality, located on the Italian shorelines close to the city of Rome. The purpose of the project is the creation of a multifunctional urban green space, where social relations, sports, environmental awareness education and other activities can take place in a natural context. The final aim of the project, which includes a requalification of the surrounding areas, is to obtain an ecofriendly interaction between the urban public space and the built space, with sustainable mobility principles and the conservation of the natural environment. The project offers different outdoor activities for all ages and includes the design of a building which contains two multipurpose playgrounds, a gym, supporting functions, a bar and public toilets. The building design includes a green roof, for preserving space to nature and for guaranteeing a harmonious integration with the surrounding environment. In order to enlarge the green area, to bring it up to the contiguous buildings and to create a closer connection between the housing areas on both sides of the ditch and the park itself, a tunnel for the vehicular traffic was created. The project improves the usability of the green space through the introduction of: pedestrian and cycle paths connected to the existing ones, wooden bridges, new functions and services. The distinctive feature of the whole project is an integration of different best available technologies for obtaining an optimization of the performances in

A Sustainable Requalification Of Bracciano Lake Waterfront In Trevignano Romano

This paper describes the first interventions carried out in accordance with the results of the three years bilateral research SoURCE (Sustainable Urban Cell) performed by CITERA (Inter department Centre for Territory, Building, Conservation and Environment) of the Sapienza University of Rome and the Department of Urban Planning and Environment of the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm (KTH) regarding urban redevelopment and distributed micro-generation of buildings. The location is the municipality of Trevignano Romano in the area (urban cell) of the lake waterfront aimed at the integration of all facilities that will increase the tourist accommodation of the area. The concept of the project is to utilize empty spaces, in all lake waterfronts, for the construction of public toilets and showers, introduction of electric boat and bike rental for sightseeing with charging stations and construction of an energy efficient wooden prefabricated building to be used as a general shop for tourists (closest analogue service is about 3 km). The research is included in the executive programme for the scientific and technical cooperation between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Republic of Italy, in the area defined ‘Energy and Environment: Sustainable Cities’.

Risk assessment of oil spills along the Mediterranean coast: A sensitivity analysis of the choice of hazard quantification

Oil pollution in the Mediterranean represents a serious threat to the coastal environment. Quantifying the risks associated with a potential spill is often based on results generated from oil spill models. In this study, MEDSLIK-II, an EU funded and endorsed oil spill model, is used to assess potential oil spill scenarios at four pilot areas located along the northern, eastern, and southern Mediterranean shoreline, providing a wide range of spill conditions and coastal geomorphological characteristics. Oil spill risk assessment at the four pilot areas was quantified as a function of three oil pollution metrics that include the susceptibility of oiling per beach segment, the average volume of oiling expected in the event of beaching, and the average oil beaching time. The results show that while the three pollution metrics tend to agree in their hazard characterization when the shoreline morphology is simple, considerable differences in the quantification of the associated hazard is possible under complex coastal morphologies. These differences proved to greatly alter the evaluation of environmental risks. An integrative hazard index is proposed that encompasses the three simulated pollution metrics. The index promises to shed light on oil spill hazards that can be universally applied across the Mediterranean basin by integrating it with the unified oil spill risk assessment tool developed by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean (REMPEC).

Coastal and marine impact assessment for the development of an oil spill contingency plan: The case study of the east coast of Sicily

This project is one of the results of the multi-year collaboration in coastal and marine sustainable management, planning and policy between the General Directorate for Nature and Sea Protection of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the CITERA Research Centre (Centro Interdisciplinare Territorio, Edilizia, Restauro, Ambiente) of the Sapienza University of Rome. The main objective of the project was to analyze the parameters involved in preparedness, prevention and response actions required by the Italian Ministry for the setting up of an Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Due to its critical anthropic impacts and its huge environmental heritage in terms of biodiversity richness and coastal geomorphological variety, the Eastern Sicily coastline, bounded by the geographic vertices of Cape Peloro and Cape Passero, has been chosen as the study area. Moreover this area is characterized by significant economic activities such as fishing and tourist industries. One of the major aims of the study was to rank coastal areas on the basis of their sensitivity to an unforeseen oil spill. Physical, geomorphological, biological and environmental attributes have been gathered using remote sensing techniques and field works, and they have been subsequently elaborated for the valuation of oil spill environmental sensitivity indices (ESI). In addition to ESI values, the elaborated maps contain other important information like landscaping and environmental constraints, human-use resources, archaeological and historical sites, and marine benthic biocenosis. In order to achieve the tasks and draw up the maps, the whole data set has been reported in a Geographical Information System (GIS) database. The obtained results include operational maps

Planning Of Flood Defence Management AndRehabilitation Of The Natural Habitat In TheDownstream Part Of The River Tiber

The aim of this project is to single out sections along the final tract of the river Tiber, from the Castel Giubileo breakwater to the estuary, including main feeders, in need of flood defence management interventions and environmental redevelopment. After running through the city of Rome, the Tiber flows downstream through a territory where urban needs coexist with cultural heritage and a particularly riparian ecosystem. For this project it was therefore decided to use bioengineering techniques in order to bring about the minimum impact on both the environment and the landscape. These can be used to minimise streambank erosion, to prevent flood events and for streambed shaping. Furthermore, they are a valid tool for the restoration of the ecological integrity of the riparian ecosystems and wetlands. The next step was to pinpoint critical zones in need of a new embankment system for the security of Rome’s suburban districts nearby. The final product was the development of a cartographic support of the study area, elaborated with GIS software “Arc Gis 9.1”, listing all the planned works by area as well as the most suitable techniques in accordance with the entity of the problem and the constraints of that zone. In addition, we drew up a technical data sheet for each kind of intervention, pinpointing all the locations along the Tiber where each intervention is planned. The shapefiles and technical data sheets are useful instruments for the requalification of what remains one of the most beautiful and vulnerable sections of the river Tiber.

The use of environmental sensitivity indices (ESI) maps for the evaluation of oil spill risk in Mediterranean coastlines and coastal waters

This paper presents a project devoted to identifying the environmental, historical and morphologically most sensitive and vulnerable priorities of the coastlines, with a view to providing decision-makers with sensitivity index maps for the planning of preventive actions and emergency responses in the event of an unforeseen outflow of hydrocarbons. The sensitivity index maps give information established by environmental sensitivity indices (ESI), represented in the maps with different lines and colours. Due to the considerable diversity in ecosystems and morphology in the Mediterranean and on account of the unique importance of the archaeological, historic and landscape sites along the Italian coastline, the decision was taken to extrapolate the ESI values on the basis of the matrices elaborated by Cinquepalmi et al (Prevention of hydrocarbons sea pollution: Sensitivity Index Maps for the Venice Lagoon as integral component of oil-spill contingency planning and response. Environmental Coastal Regions. WIT Transaction of Ecology and the Environmental volume 25. WIT Press, 1998) in a previous study with a similar aim on the Lagoon of Venice. With respect to the previous study a more simple core set of ESI was obtained from new matrices created in order to be used in the Mediterranean ecosystems: natural coastline, water stretches and artificial features. The resultant indices identify a single number that expresses all the qualitative and quantitative traits of the Italian coastline, both for land and seascapes, in clear maps of simple use. Environmental Sensitivity Maps offer a useful contribution to the prevention of pollution from oil spills and for combating the consequences of a possible accident along Mediterranean coastlines. They also constitute the most complete database, useful both for risk response and for an Integrated Coastal Zone Management.

Data gathering guidelines for the mapping of environmental sensitivity to oil spill of the Italian coastlines

This paper is part of a project of the Fisica Tecnica Department of “Sapienza” University of Rome and the Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea, to finalize the mapping of the environmental sensitivity to oil spill of the Italian coastlines. Considering that the final aim of this project is to produce a core set of Environmental Sensitivity Indices (ESI) maps for the Italian system of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas, the plan foresees the involvement of the Italian Coastguard for the “in situ” survey, to gather part of the data required for the compilation of the matrices, which are beforehand designed for the evaluation of Environmental Sensitivity Indices (ESI). Therefore, this paper proposes a set of guidelines for the Coastguard Officers in order to obtain unambiguous data for each protected zone and surrounding areas. In particular, the guidelines define univocally the various coastal typologies included in the context of the Mediterranean coastlines, giving a shoreline classification in terms of the sensitivity to oil spills, taking into consideration a number of natural, physical, biological and human factors. The guidelines include for each coastal typology: a short physical description, a possible prediction of oil diffusion and a possible response. Those guidelines have been successfully tested during an “in situ” survey, in the coastlines of Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park. Moreover, the prosecution of the project will offer a clear system for pinpointing ecological, landscape and cultural priorities, for the realization of an effective protection to the areas considered most vulnerable to hydrocarbons spills.

Assessment Of A Urban Sustainability And Life Quality Index For Elderly

The research here presented originates from some of the ongoing challenges of our society: the demographic changes and the high share of population living in urban areas. The aim of the research is the definition of an index of sustainability and quality of life for elderly at suburban scale, not only able to outline aspects related to the local territorial context but also to represent the neighbourhood level. This would provide significant added value to existing indicators that represent the quality of life for much larger areas as cities, regions and nations. Indeed, it is universally recognised that the quality of life varies quite considerably depending on whether you live in different neighbourhoods or urban areas. The index proposed with the research is elaborated on the base of objective and subjective indicators integrated with the judgment of experts, in order to give an accurate and truthful weight to each indicator. Moreover, it has been elaborated for microscale analysis, dividing urban areas into cells, in order to highlight more in detail the real needs of each specific zone. As a result, the elaborated index would be an available tool to be provided to the local public administration to facilitate and optimise the urban planning and management, prioritizing interventions on the base of the sustainability principles and subjective needs of the population, in particular of elderly.