Daniele La Rosa

Agricultural and green infrastructures: the role of non-urbanised areas for eco-sustainable planning in a metropolitan region.

Non-Urbanised Areas (NUAs) are part of agricultural and green infrastructures that provide ecosystem services. Their role is fundamental for the minimization of urban pollution and adaptation to climate change. Like all natural ecosystems, NUAs are endangered by urban sprawl. The regulation of sprawl is a key issue for land-use planning. We propose a land use suitability strategy model to orient Land Uses of NUAs, based on integration of Land Cover Analysis (LCA) and Fragmentation Analysis (FA). With LCA the percentage of evapotranspiring surface is defined for each land use. Dimensions and densities of NUAs patches are assessed in FA. The model has been developed with Geographical Information Systems, using an extensive set of geodatabases, including orthophotos, vectorial cartographies and field surveys. The case of the municipality of Mascalucia in Catania metropolitan area (Italy), characterized by a considerable urban sprawl, is presented.

Assessment of hazards and risks for landscape protection planning in Sicily.

Landscape protection planning is a complex task that requires an integrated assessment and involves heterogeneous issues. These issues include not only the management of a considerable amount of data to describe landscape features but also the choice of appropriate tools to evaluate the hazards and risks. The landscape assessment phase can provide fundamental information for the definition of a Landscape Protection Plan, in which the selection of norms for protection or rehabilitation is strictly related to hazards, values and risks that are found. This paper describes a landscape assessment methodology conducted by using GIS, concerning landscape hazards, values and risk. Four hazard categories are introduced and assessed concerning urban sprawl and erosion: landscape transformations by new planned developments, intensification of urban sprawl patterns, loss of agriculture land and erosion. Landscape value is evaluated by using different thematic layers overlaid with GIS geoprocessing. The risk of loss of landscape value is evaluated, with reference to the potential occurrence of the previously assessed hazards. The case study is the Province of Enna (Sicily), where landscape protection is a relevant issue because of the importance of cultural and natural heritage. Results show that high value landscape features have a low risk of loss of landscape value. For this reason, landscape protection policies assume a relevant role in landscapes with low-medium values and they should be addressed to control the urban sprawl processes that are beginning in the area.

Land cover and impervious surface extraction using parametric and non-parametric algorithms from the open-source software R: an application to sustainable urban planning in Sicily

Detailed urban land-cover maps are essential information for sustainable planning. Land-cover maps assist planners in designing strategies for the optimisation of urban ecosystem services and climate change adaptation. In this study, the statistical software R was applied to land cover analysis for the Catania metropolitan area in Sicily, Italy. Six land cover classes were extracted from high-resolution orthophotos. Five different classification algorithms were compared. Texture and contextual layers were tested in different combinations as ancillary data. Classification accuracies of 89% were achieved for two of the tested algorithms.

Ecosystem services for connecting actors – lessons from a symposium

Abstract This paper is a communication from the corresponding symposium at the Global Land Project Open Science Meeting, Berlin, March 2014. We explored the assumption that the ecosystem services-(ES) concept has the potential to support communication and collaboration between actors in land use planning. If true, the concept could facilitate collaborative planning processes. We analyse how to evolve a planning context in which governance networks at the local landscape level gain importance in decision making, while the central government delegates power. From case studies presented during the symposium we learned that the ES-concept has been explored for application in local land use planning around the world. However, whether ES are recognized as a useful planning concept depends on individual actor preferences and cultural and contextual factors, such as the actual nature-human relationship and gender differences. Also, successful application requires the support of novel assessment, design and visualization tools, which are designed to foster collaboration and social learning. The potential of the concept to contribute to collaborative relationships needs further investigation.

Measures of Safeguard and Rehabilitation for landscape protection planning: A qualitative approach based on diversity indicators

Maintaining existing levels of landscape diversity is becoming more and more important for planning considering the increasing pressures on agricultural ecosystems due to soil sealing, sprawl processes and intensive agriculture. Norms for land-use regulation and measures for landscape Safeguard and Rehabilitation have to take into consideration these threats in landscape planning. Evaluating the diversity of agricultural ecosystems is a fundamental step for proposing sound approaches to planning and managing both soil and landscape, as well as maintaining the related ecosystem services. The paper proposes a method aimed at the qualitative evaluation of spatial diversity of agricultural landscapes using a reduced set of ecological indicators based on land-use vector data. Indicators are calculated for defined landscape units characterized by landscape homogeneity. GIS geoprocessing and spatial analysis functions are employed. The study area is the Province of Enna in Sicily (Italy), which is characterized by cultivation mosaics in its southern region, cereal cultivation in the central region and prevailing natural environments in the northern region. Results from the indicator calculations are used to define measures to be included in a Landscape Protection Plan. Safeguard and Rehabilitation measures are introduced, which link indicator scores to planning protection aims. The results highlight the relevance of some agricultural mosaics in proximity to streams and seasonal fluvial environments, where some undamaged natural environments are still present. For these areas, specific landscape safeguard measures are proposed to preserve their diversity features together with their original agricultural functions. The work shows that even with a reduced number of indicators, a differentiated set of measures can be proposed for a Landscape Protection Plan.

The observed landscape: map of visible landscape values in the province of Enna (Italy)

Abstract Please click here to download the map associated with this article. The value of a landscape is an important issue for landscape protection planning, as different rules or land-use limitations can be defined according to the intensity of values that are visible from certain positions. Viewshed analysis is often used in landscape evaluation, classifying an area by its degree of visibility. This approach however may be not able to consider the value of landscape features that can be observed, as it is only based on terrain morphology features. A landscape assessment methodology is proposed here, by integrating both viewshed analysis and landscape values assessment. In the first part of the work, a viewshed is calculated from a set of viewpoints of panoramic roads. The landscape value is then assessed, using different available thematic layers that are overlaid with GIS geoprocessing tools. Finally, an index of visible landscape values is calculated, through the overlay of the viewshed and landscape value rasters previously obtained. The study area is the province of Enna in Sicily (Italy), where landscape protection is a relevant issue due to the importance, as well as the number, of cultural and natural elements. The resulting visibility map of landscape values is a useful tool to find appropriate policies for landscape protection and design plans.

Towards lower carbon cities: urban morphology contribution in climate change adaptation strategies

ABSTRACT Non-urbanized areas (NUAs) play an important role in reducing the effects of climate change by providing both carbon storage and sequestration. Urban areas are responsible for the emission of 60% of global greenhouse gas, 50% of which are produced by buildings. During the past decades, increasing urban growth and sprawl processes produced several urban layouts characterized by different morphological features and a common lack of sustainable energy and environmental solutions. Investigating the relationship between urban morphology, energy demand and carbon emission/sequestration represents a relevant topic for urban planning practices implemented to face urban climate change effects. This study proposes a method for a transformability assessment aimed at investigating the transformation suitability of different urban morphology types. The case study is the metropolitan area of Catania (Italy), characterized by an impressive urban growth since the 1960s. The proposed method identification of limits and options for increasing sustainability of urban areas considering the contribution of both NUAs and built-up areas. This approach allows to identify appropriate planning tools for new layouts of urban fabrics while increasing the objectivity of the decision process. In the framework of climate change mitigation and adaptation, the outcomes of this research may lead to innovative urban planning practices.

ENHANCING CARBON SEQUESTRATION POTENTIAL OF URBAN GREEN SPACES THROUGH TRANSFER OF DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS STRATEGY

Non-urbanized areas (NUAs) play an important role in reducing the effects of climate change by providing both carbon storage and sequestration. Despite their importance, they are endangered by urbanization pressures and often neglected by local spatial planning practices. On the contrary, NUAs should be protected and designed as new public urban green spaces to enhance the amount of vegetation of different land cover types and therefore their potential capacity of carbon sequestration. This study proposes a three steps-method for enhancing carbon sequestration of NUAs through the implementation of new public green spaces while ensuring the related economic feasibility of urban development based on a Transfer of development rights program.

TRANSFERABILITY OF GREENCITIES EXPERIENCES FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING

During the last decades new developments, retrofitting and urban regeneration projects in most of European green cities have been designed according to high level of Urban Design Solutions (UDS) such as green spaces networks, low-carbon mobility systems, mixed land uses, public facilities/services and new jobs. Integration of these UDS to water/waste and renewable energy management systems has shown an effective contribution to urban and environmental quality and sustainability. Even though these successfully experiences provided a considerable amount of valuable UDS, their suitability to be transferred in urban contexts characterized by different environmental, morphological, socio-economic and cultural conditions has not been systematically investigated. This paper proposes a method for evaluating the transferability of several UDS that have been applied in a set of fifteen European green cities to urban contexts of Southern Italy, where socio-economic, environmental, geographical, and cultural conditions are different. The method is based on three different steps. First, UDS are identified and grouped within a matrix in three strategic categories (procedures and economic aspects, urban quality, energy and environment). The second step checks the suitability of these different UDS to be transferred according to six different criteria: climate and geography, mobility/green/facilities equipment, water/waste/energy grids equipment, norms and regulations, urban management policies, social and cultural aspects. The third step is the evaluation of the transferability of UDS based on a survey conducted through web-interviews to Italian national experts in the field of urban planning. Contrary to the expectations, results show that a very high percentage of UDS could be transferred to the southern Italy contexts and that the transferability is more influenced by lack of urban management policies than climatic or geographical features.

Sustainable Planning for Peri-urban Landscapes

Urban systems keep growing worldwide with different intensities and characters. As a direct consequence, peripheries increase in number, typologies, and complexity, and their growth is highly dependent on local territorial and socioeconomic conditions. Particularly in peri-urban areas, landscapes underwent fast socioeconomic transitions that have deeply modified their territorial assets and land uses. Forests, agricultural and seminatural areas in peri-urban contexts have been affected by processes of urban developments that heavily modify the provision of ecosystem services. Urban development has produced discontinuous and low-density patterns so that outside the main city, the landscape is characterized by a strong fragmentation of farmlands, forests, seminatural areas, and strong mixes of urban and non-urban land uses.