Defining a social-ecological performance to prioritize compensatory actions for environmental regeneration. The experimentation of the environmental compensation plan
Author(s): Angioletta Voghera, Benedetta Giudice
More info: Performance-based planning (PBP) is an approach to define a flexible, strategic and site-based scenario for the improvement of the social-ecological quality of the territory. The paper provides an experimentation of environmental compensation within the Italian context that can be traced back to the performance-based planning approach. The experimentation proposed is the Environmental Compensation Plan (ECP) of the Stura di Lanzo River, where the involvement of local stakeholders, environmental evaluation, environmental planning and design have been linked together for the definition of specific renaturalisation and environmental regeneration actions within the context of the River Agreement (RA). The ECP and relative methodological framework are then proposed to select and design priority actions of environmental compensation in different territorial contexts. Finally, some indications to further enhancing ECP effectiveness following PBP approach have been reported.
2020 | Journal Articles
Qfd to Determine Experimental Biopiles Requirements, to Be Used at Bench-scale as a Strategy Against Soil Pollution with Oily Waste
Author(s): David Javier Castro Rodriguez, Yudexi Jimenez Gonzalez, Omar Gutiérrez Benitez, Enmanuel Casals Pérez, Dayana Ribassa Ribassa, Orlando Viera Ribot, Micaela Demichela
More info: Due to the increase in the amount of oil used, large volumes of hydrocarbons are released annually into the environment, constituting one of the main causes of soil pollution worldwide. The Center for Environmental Studies of Cienfuegos, Cuba; implemented an experimental project to develop an innovative technique as a resilient alternative to this environmental problem. The objective was to implement the Quality Function Deployment (QFD), to determine the design requirements of the experimental units to be used at the bench scale, for the biodegradation of different biopile treatments. The QFD offered a systematic approach to translating attributes into engineering features. The concentrations of microorganisms, nutrients, and hydrocarbons in the biopile were the characteristics that accumulated more than 50 % of the relative weights of the first level matrix. The initial concentration of hydrocarbons and the percentages of moisture and bulking agents in the mixture obtained the highest relative weights in the second level. The percentage of bulking agents was identified as an opportunity to reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of bioremediation and stimulate the circular economy. The results enabled delineating the experimental protocols for the engineering design, which ensured to build the bench-scale prototype of the experimental units for the evaluation of various treatments of biopiles ecotechnology as a resilient alternative against soils hydrocarbon pollution.
2022 | Journal Articles
Territorial Resilience: Toward a Proactive Meaning for Spatial Planning
Author(s): Grazia Brunetta, Rosario Ceravolo, Carlo Alberto Barbieri, Alberto Borghini, Francesco de Carlo, Alfredo Mela, Silvia Beltramo, Andrea Longhi, Giulia De Lucia, Stefano Ferraris, Alessandro Pezzoli, Carlotta Quagliolo, Stefano Salata, Angioletta Voghera
More info: The international debate on resilience has grown around the ability of a community to prepare for and adapt to natural disasters, with a growing interest in holistically understanding complex systems. Although the concept of resilience has been investigated from different perspectives, the lack of understanding of its conceptual comprehensive aspects presents strong limitations for spatial planning and for the adoption of policies and programs for its measurement and achievement. In this paper, we refer to “territorial resilience” as an emerging concept capable of aiding the decision-making process of identifying vulnerabilities and improving the transformation of socio-ecological and technological systems (SETSs). Here, we explore the epistemology of resilience, reviewing the origins and the evolution of this term, providing evidence on how this conceptual umbrella is used by different disciplines to tackle problem-solving that arises from disaster management and command-control practices to augment the robustness. Assuming the SETSs paradigm, the seismic and structural engineering, social sciences and history, urban planning and climatology perspectives intersects providing different analytical levels of resilience, including vulnerability and patrimony from a community and cultural perspective. We conclude that territorial resilience surpasses the analytical barriers between different disciplines, providing a useful concept related to complex problem-solving phenomena for land use planning, opening a new research question: how can territorial resilience be measured, acknowledging different units and levels of analysis aiding decision-making in spatial plans and projects? In attempting to understand a resilient system, quantitative and qualitative measurements are crucial to supporting planning decisions.
2019 | Journal Articles
Interferometric Satellite Data in Structural Health Monitoring: An Application to the Effects of the Construction of a Subway Line in the Urban Area of Rome
Author(s): Giulia Delo, Marco Civera, Erica Lenticchia, Gaetano Miraglia, Cecilia Surace, Rosario Ceravolo
More info: In recent years, the use of interferometric satellite data for Structural Health Monitoring has experienced a strong development. The urban environment confirms its fragility to adverse natural events, made even more severe by climate change. Hence, the need to carry out continuous monitoring of structures and artefacts appears increasingly urgent. Furthermore, satellite data could considerably increase the feasibility of traditional Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) approaches.This study aims to explore this remote sensing approach, focusing on the representation techniques that can be adopted to highlight their advantages and provide an interpretation of the results. In particular, the study analyzes records from the urban area of Rome (Italy), subject to the construction of a new subway line. These data are exploited to create a velocity map to highlight the possible subsidence phenomenon induced by excavations. Then, the paper focuses on single buildings or building complexes through the entropy–energy representation. Beyond the different limitations caused by the input data, a correlation is identified between the results of the two representation techniques. Accordingly, the effects of excavation on the urban area are demonstrated, and the methodologies are validated.
2022 | Journal Articles
Urban Climate Action. The urban content of the NDCs: Global review 2022
Author(s): Bernhard Barth, Nicola Tollin, James Vener, Maria Pizzorni, Ainhoa Saurí Gázquez, Patrizia Gragnani, Maria Manez, Grazia Brunetta, Ombretta Caldarice, Jordi Morato, Stelios Grafakos, David Simon, Tadashi Matsumoto
More info: This report was prepared by United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the UNESCO Chair on Urban Resilience at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU.Resilience). It offers a global analysis of the urban content of 193 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) before the 19th of June 2022. For this report, more than 200 indicators were used to analyse external data (e.g., Human Development Index and income categorisation) and data within the NDCs, including climate mitigation and adaptation challenges and responses, as well as specific sectors. This analysis is instrumental to supporting Parties’ efforts in further integrating national climate policies and urban climate actions, which is considered fundamental to raising ambition and developing adequate and timely actions as required by the current climate emergency. This review can be instrumental for advocacy and direct support to countries by partner organisations. The work was supported by a group of experts from bilateral and multilateral organisations and academia. Three expert group meetings were convened, and a peer review was organised for the final report.
2022 | Dissemination Activities
Co-evolutionary, transformative, and economic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Evidence-based experiences of urban community design in Turin (Italy)
Author(s): Cristina Coscia, Angioletta Voghera
More info: This article seeks to interpret co-evolutionary and transformative resilience in a broad sense, with the aim of understanding how it may come into the practices of urban planning and project-making, innovating project procedures, and generating economic effects. This article studies this through the case of Bottom up!, the Turin-based Festival of Architecture, and observes the procedures through which resilience takes action in different territories, inter-preting territorial problems and crises such as the pandemic, viewing them as opportunities to innovate the system, suggesting integrated action on the natural, cultural, financial and social capital, experimenting with new practices, and holding institutions accountable.
2022 | Book Section