Paolo La Greca

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.

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.

Energy and Spatial Planning: A Smart Integrated Approach

In spite of having a land occupation of 2 % and accommodating 50 % of the world population, cities produce 80 % of GHG emission and consume 80 % of the world’s resources. Therefore, spatial planning has a key role in creating urban environments that support less energy-intense lifestyles and communities in order to meet the EU’s challenging energy and climate change targets. However, the use of high tech applications is not sufficient: a smarter way of combining tools and approaches that come from the tradition of town and transport planning is required. Spatial planning has a long lasting tradition in defining the shape of urban fabric and the layout of buildings, defining the proper mix of land uses that takes into account the key role of transports. Containing and retrofitting urban sprawl by integrating transport and land use planning will be a considerable part of a new smart approach to city and energy. The new role of land use planning will also be accommodating new forms of distributed energy production in the urban fabric. In addition, planning tools will incorporate incentives aimed at favouring higher energy standards both for new and existing buildings. The technological innovation requires a comprehensive spatial framework, assuming that the energy point of view is a new challenge for innovating spatial planning.

Shaping the Sustainable Urban Mobility. The Catania Case Study

The increasing complexity of cities will require a greater level of integration between land use policies and transport planning. In this chapter, we present the case study of Catania, a medium sized metropolitan area in Southern Italy where recent investments are changing the urban railway network considerably. In spite of the lack of integration between land use and transport planning, this example demonstrates that the construction of a new metro line has a substantial potential for revamping outdated planning practices, promoting a comprehensive approach towards a strategic planning of the metropolitan area. The level of traffic congestion and the related environmental problems of the examined area make the proposed case study particularly relevant within the framework of sustainable mobility policies.

Landscape and sprawl. studies and proposals for the landscape protection plan in Sicily

The paper describes a methodology adopted in the Landscape Protection Plan of Enna, and Siracusa, based on geo-referenced data. Results confirm the relationship with cultural and economic features of the communities. The risk of landscape transformation has been evaluated, taking into account several features of the sprawled settlements, The proposal identifies four categories for landscape protection. A set of general rules aimed at enhancing the quality of these settlements is defined. .